Danganronpa: Despair Never Dies
by V-Create1
Summary: 24 students are chosen for Monokuma's newest killing game. Kanon Amari, the Ultimate Photojournalist, finds herself on board an unfamiliar train, loaded to the brim with mysteries. Rated M for blood and sex much later on.
1. Prologue

My name is Kanon Amari. I am an amateur photojournalist, from an ordinary school and a generic family. I didn't really have much going for me in the way of talent - just some above-average photography skills, and a little bit of skill in journalism. Imagine my surprise when my family received a letter from Hope's Peak Academy, saying that they wanted... me. The letter claimed that I was the "Ultimate Photojournalist" and was absolutely necessary for the school. While awestruck, I just couldn't help but feel surprised that they chose me of all people. I would be attending this school with the absolute best of the _best_ \- and for whatever reason, an amateur photojournalist such as myself seemed out-of-place with revolutionary scientists, child prodigies, and pro athletes. Was I… really deserving of such an honor? Certainly better photographers, and journalists than I did existed.

I took a deep breath and gulped, my arms and legs trembling as I inched toward the imposing building of Hope's Peak Academy. I tied the back of my long, charcoal hair up into a ponytail and flicked my braids behind my ears. I reached into my backpack, pulling out a compact Canon camera, then pressed the button atop the device as the screen on the front flashed with a bright white, displaying the word "Canon" in white letters as the view in front of the lens appeared on the screen of the camera. "Alright, I _need_ to get a picture of this place before going in." I muttered to myself, snapping a photograph of the prodigious high school. Before I got the chance to get a good look at the photograph, the camera's screen flickered and went black. "Oh no, did I seriously forget to put in new batteries before my first day at Hope's Peak Academy?! Kanon, you idiot." I sighed, and just put the camera back into my bag. "Oh well, I'm sure Hope's Peak Academy has spare batteries lying around somewhere."

Essentially forgetting about the camera, I took a step toward the school, and before I could react, I felt a chill run down my spine. I gasped as the whole place seemed to be moving in slow-motion. My blood flow ground to a screeching halt, my heart froze in position, and I appeared to be in midair as I felt my body hurling downward as I began to trip and fall onto my face. _Oh no, these are my good glasses, too!_ I thought to myself, this one second feeling like hours. Before I could even land, everything faded to black.

* * *

I opened my eyes, and found myself lying down, face-down against a soft, gray cushion. I grumbled, pushing myself upward. I sat upright, pushing my back against a surface which felt similar to the one I apparently was sleeping on. I looked up to see a white metallic strip overhead, smooth and without a scratch to be seen. To my left was another set of seats made of the same material, with a another set of seats facing them and a table between the two seats. Several rows of seats before and after lined the narrow room, and between the seats on my side and the seats opposite me was a walking space, lined with a black fabric. That's when it hit me - I was on a train.

"I'm... on a train...?" I muttered to myself. It seemed that I was completely alone. To my right was a white, metallic wall, with not so much as a window for me to look outside of. I slumped down in my seat as I pulled my phone out of my bag, checking the time. Twelve PM sharp. Noon. Just as I had finished checking the time, I heard a soft, baritone voice call in my direction.

"Oh, good! You're awake!" The voice called out. I jolted in my seat, the voice catching me by surprise. I looked up from my phone to see a man of above-average height, reaching about six feet high. He wore a turquoise tank top over his muscular torso, veins bulging in his arms as he walked. A pair of shabby brown pants covered his legs, though they appeared to be rather tight and ill-fitting on his thighs, though they were held up by a bent and . His jet-black hair was scruffy and messy, though definitely clean. Oddly enough, he was devoid of any sort of shoes or footwear, instead opting to go barefoot. His broad, angular face was lightly adorned with black facial hair, as if he had just shaven hours earlier.

"Who are you?" I asked him. I had never seen this man before in my entire life, though he seemed to appear to me at the best possible time. He smiled in my direction as he sat down opposite me, his blue-gray eyes glistening underneath the light on the strip above.

"The name's Masaki Domoto," the man introduced himself, leaning backward as he looked into my eyes. I turned away for a split second, which he chuckled at. How was Masaki so... cool-headed? "And I am the Ultimate Thief!"

The Ultimate Thief? Were talents such as that even allowed inside of Hope's Peak Academy? Even so, why was he so open about it? One would think he would be more hesitant to give away crucial information such as that.

"I found you passed-out at the station, and took you here before the train could leave without you." Masaki explained to me.

 _The... station?_ I looked down at the table, trying not to make eye contact with him. My heart pounded in my chest as my arms and legs trembled. Why was a cute, talented boy like him talking with an average girl like me? It simply didn't add up. A lot of things didn't add up about this boy, or our situation. "What's your name and title?" he asked me, flashing a sort of half-smile in my direction.

I giggled a bit, taking a moment to readjust my glasses as I took a deep breath. I placed my hands on top of the table, and looked him in the eyes. "My name is Kanon Amari," I replied. "And, well... thank you for earlier. But... may I ask why we're on a train, exactly?"

Masaki inhaled, then turned toward the wall to my right. He clasped his hands and sighed. "Not entirely sure myself…" he muttered. "I think it might be a train to the academy, but I could have sworn we all arrived there already. In the meantime, you might as well come meet all your classmates."

"That sounds like a good idea." I replied. Masaki stood right up.

"Follow me!" He instructed, making a "come here!" motion with his hand as he turned around and into the walkway. I stood up and followed him as we walked toward the door of the car we were in. Masaki pushed the door open, and the two of us entered the adjacent train car, as pleasant, mouth-watering aroma filled my nose.

I practically drooled as the two of us entered a similar-looking car to the last one, though the walls this time were lined with tables topped with delicious-looking food. Plates filled with sushi, meat on the bone, fried fish, donuts, ramen, tilapia, and many other foods lined the tables, and large dispensers filled with different drinks were at the very ends of each table.

"Whoa... I guess I'll never grow hungry here!" I exclaimed, my stomach rumbling from the sheer smell of it all.

"You probably already guessed, but this is the food court section of the train. I mean, I guess it's no five-star restaurant, but hey, it's food, right?" Masaki stated. "I can hear your stomach growling. Why don't you grab some food and then we'll meet up with everyone else?"

"Oh, you're hungry too, huh?" asked a higher-pitched, quiet voice, almost like a squeak. I turned behind myself to see a girl definitely around my age, though taller and slightly chubbier than myself. One thing that caught me off-guard for a split second was the v-neck t-shirt outstreched over her large bust, much larger than my own. I looked down at my tiny B-cup chest and sighed, suddenly feeling self-conscious about my own body. She also wore a pair of long, gray sweat pants, and some old black strapped shoes to go along with them. Her dark purple hair was short and uneven in most areas, and it appeared to have gathered a bit of grease as she didn't look like she had washed it in a few days. Atop her head was a pair of large silver headphones, plugged into a cord which reached down to the left pocket of her sweatpants. She had a blank look on her face as she just stood there and blinked at me for a few seconds, staring at me with her vacant, dark-blue (almost violet) eyes. For a second, I got a whiff of a rather strange odor - it smelled like an unlikely combination of body odor and roses.

After a few awkward seconds, I took it upon myself to break the silence. "O-oh, hello." I muttered to her, still trying to avoid eye contact. She didn't quite seem like the personable type, unlike Masaki. "My name is Kanon Amari, Ultimate Photographer. Who are you?"

Giving only the faintest hint of a smile, the messy girl in purple chuckled and gave a response. "I'm Tame Maeda. They call me the Ultimate Anime Artist."

Tame Maeda? I recognized that name! Although I was only more of a casual fan, I recognized that name from an anime series I once watched with a friend of mine. At the end of each episode, the credits would say "Illustrated by Tame Maeda" at the end. Steady Heart, that was the name of the anime! It was a beautiful series about a schoolgirl who fell in love with the cutest boy in her class - only it turned out that he was a ghost, and as such, the two could never truly be together. "Oh! You're the artist for Steady Heart!" I exclaimed.

Tame gave another half-smile as she passed in front of me, grabbing three donuts, seven pieces of sushi, and at least five cups of ramen. "Yeah, I wrote that one," she replied, not turning back to me as she gathered all her food.

"Well... is there going to be a Season 2?!" I asked her, basically shouting at this point.

A few seconds passed before she reached into her left pocket, and suddenly the pop-rock theme song to an anime burst from her headphones, being loud enough for Masaki and I to hear from less than a meter away. "Maybe." She whispered back to us, strutting away with her full plate of food.

"Hmm… she's not really the talkative type…" I murmured to Masaki, placing a few rolls of sushi onto m plate.

"She's a little quiet and aloof," Masaki replied. "It's pretty hard to talk to her, much less engage in a real conversation."

I sighed. The first person I met besides Masaki, and already they had achieved something far greater than I likely ever would in my lifetime. Not to mention that she completely brushed me off entirely. Worse yet, I was still feeling self-conscious about my boobs thanks to her...

"Hey, uh... why don't we check out the rest of the train, and meet everyone else?" Masaki suggested. "Come on, there's actually a car just below this one that's pretty good. I think you'll like it."

I sighed, taking my plate of sushi with me as Masaki led me down the stairs to the next car.

Below the food car was one with more seats lined against the walls, though this time two gigantic windows were on the walls rather than blank metal. I stood there in awe as I gazed upon the surroundings, which comprised of some tall evergreen trees and tall bushes. The sky above was almost completely clear, with the exception of some thin white clouds in the air, the linear ones exuded from planes.

"This is the scenic car. It's where you can look out the windows and see all the beauty of the outside world…" Masaki informed me. My mouth slowly grew into a wide smile as I pulled my camera out of my backpack.

"I need to get a few pictures!" I exclaimed, turning my camera on.

"Hey, now." Masaki began, turning to me with a smile. "There'll be plenty of time to take pictures after you've met everybody!"

 _I'll remember to get lots of pictures here..._ I thought to myself as Masaki and I toured through the walkway. About halfway through the walkway, I turned my head to see two people sitting opposite each other at a table. The two were completely silent with each other, and just looking out the windows. One of them was a tall and twig-like man likely older than Masaki and I, dressed in a dark blue uniform sort of resembling that of a pilot's, with a long, narrow blue hat to go along with it atop his balding head. The other was a boy closer to our age, dressed in a smokey-gray suit with thick glasses upon his head, and a full head of slicked, gelled brown hair.

"Masaki, who are they?" I asked him, not wanting to disturb their peace. I figured that Masaki had already met everyone else, so it was only natural to assume that he knew who these two were.

"Oh, the one in the uniform is Hikooki Kawata, the Ultimate Pilot, and the one in the suit is Rai Yoshizawa, the Ultimate Meteorologist."

After a few seconds, the man named Hikooki let out a long sigh, and put his head down onto the table. I figured this would be the perfect time to come in. Maybe he just needed someone to talk to right now?

"Oh, hello!" I chimed in. Hikooki and Rai turned their heads in our direction as I waved at the two of them. "Nice to meet you!"

Hikooki grumbled something under his breath and turned away from me. "Hey there… what do you want?" he whispered, his voice garbled and dejected.

I backed away. I really hoped that I didn't upset him or anything. Maybe he just wasn't a very sociable person, like Tame? "Oh, I'm Kanon Amari, Ultimate Photographer... just... saying hi."

The Ultimate Pilot let out a long huff, then turned toward the window again. "I'm not one for small talk…" he admitted. "I'm sure you're a nice girl, Kanon, just... do you think you could leave me alone right now? I'm not in the best of moods."

"Oh..." I turned away from the troubled Hikooki. I didn't want to cause him any more trouble.

"Yeah, Hikooki is kind of a grump," Masaki whispered into my ear. "He's older than the rest of us."

Suddenly, Rai called out to us, breaking the quietness of the conversation. I turned to him and waved in his direction. "Hey there!"

"Oh, hi!" I called back. "You're Rai Yoshizawa?"

Rai pressed his glasses against his face, grinning wide. "Sure am! I can make an extremely accurate prediction of tomorrow's weather, and the next day's, and really, all month's! Just from this weather we're having alone." He bragged, pointing out the window and observing the sky. Could he really predict weather that far in advance? Maybe the title of Ultimate Psychic would have been more befitting of him.

"Oh? Is that so?" I asked him. Rai gave another grin, this time lowering his glasses.

"That's right!" He confirmed. "It will be sunny all week and most of next, except Thursday is supposed to be rainy all day with a _bit_ of hail, somewhere in the afternoon, likely from 3 to 5 PM."

It was rather bold of him to make a prediction like this so far in advance, but I still admired that sort of boldness Rai had within him. "Y-you know that all from this weather we're having right now?!"

"That's correct!" Rai answered. "Years of studying meteorology will do that. Want to know how you can figure out the weather of the next month just from looking at the sky?"

Truth be told, I was quite intrigued. So far we had a famous anime artist, an actual pilot in a high school setting, and a meteorologist who could predict the weather a month in advance. There was also a thief, but I still didn't know what made him Ultimate yet. In a sense, part of me wanted to know exactly how Rai predicted weather with such confidence. "Well-" Before I could finish my sentence, Masaki cut me off.

"Why don't we go?" Masaki suggested. "Great talking to you guys, but Kanon here needs to meet everyone else!" He excused us from the scenic car as he began to walk away, and I followed suit. "Rai can talk for _hours_ on end about meteorology. It gets a little grating." He whispered in my ear.

For hours? I certainly found his skills interesting, but I hardly had the patience to listen to a a subject such as meteorology for hours on end. "I've got to go. Talk to you later!" I called back to Rai.

"O-oh, okay. Later!" Rai shouted back.

Masaki led me upstairs again and up into the food car, and then in through the door across from the door we had previously entered from. In this room stood five lounge chairs and a few cushions, and in the corner of the room was a gigantic flatscreen television, at least 200 centimeters wide and 150 centimeters tall. Playing on the television appeared to be a program about snowboarding, where a man dressed in snowboarding gear was boarding down a snowy hill, jumping over rocks and swerving around trees.

"This is where we get our television," Masaki began. I stared at the huge television in awe. Just imagine watching Steady Heart on _that!_ "Only a few channels actually work, but it's good for killing some time with."

"Well, that's cool-!" I began, when suddenly a chill ran down my spine. All of a sudden, I realized something - it was actually getting _cold_ in here! I shivered, my teeth chattering as I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Come on, you can make it! Only five seconds left!" A high-pitched voice shouted. Masaki and I walked over to a chair placed in front of us, where a shorter, slender girl dressed in a gray sweatshirt and sweatpants, sitting on the edge of her seat. Her snow-white hair was long and wavy, reaching down past her waist. "You're almost there!"

"Excuse me," I began, approaching her at a snail's pace. "May I ask who you are?"

"Not right now, I'm watching this- oh, man! Are you kidding me?" she shouted at the screen. I noticed that the snowboarder in the show had fallen face-first into the snow.

"Huh?" I asked, tilting my head at her. She certainly seemed like the hotheaded type.

"Sorry, I get really passionate about snowboarding," she replied, taking a deep breath. She stepped onto he feet, standing up and facing me with a smile on her face. "I'm Yuki Hatano, the Ultimate Extreme Snowboarder!" she introduced herself.

"Oh, it's nice to meet you!" I replied. "Kanon Amari! I'm the Ultimate Photojournalist."

Yuki grinned at me and jumped back onto her chair. "One day you gotta get a pic of me doing a 360 off a high jump! I can look _pretty_ cool when I do it!" she bragged. "Though it's not really the best snowboarding season with how hot it's been lately..."

"I can try!" I answered. I have covered sports stories before, and getting pictures of athletes right as they are about to make a pivotal move was just something I had grown accustomed to. "I'm not too good with cold weather though."

Yuki raised an eyebrow at me. "What? It's not even that cold." she answered. "It's like… 9 degrees Celsius at worst."

What? I stepped back a bit. It was pretty clear from this car's temperature that Yuki preferred cold environments, but... really? "9… degrees? That's way too cold!"

Yuki shrugged, turning back to the television. "I guess that's okay. The cold just isn't for everyone. I feel right at home there, though!"

"She's really good." Masaki informed me. "Right now, she holds the world record for most 360-degree pivots in a single snowboard jump, and she won a snowboarding competition with a broken leg."

"Whoa… that's really cool!" I replied. The pun wasn't quite intentional, but it was certainly well-timed.

"Yuki, are you bragging again?" A different high-pitched voice called out.

"You bet I am! I always do that!" Yuki shouted back. A slender, darker-skinned, toned-muscle girl burst in through the door, wearing a green muscle shirt and short shorts which she appeared to be zipping on as she walked in. A white towel was wrapped behind her neck as sweat poured from her forehead.

"Ah, so nice and cool in here..." she noted, giving a relaxed smile as she plopped in a seat next to Yuki's.

"Oh, and who might you be?" I asked her.

The sweaty girl grinned at me, stretching out her arms as she turned toward Masaki and I. "Name's Guadalupe Garcia, the Ultimate Track Runner! Were you the girl who was passed out just a few hours ago?"

I turned away, blushing a bit. I almost forgot that I had been unconscious only minutes ago. "Y-yeah, that was me. Kanon Amari, Ultimate Photojournalist here."

Guadalupe beamed at me as she flashed a "peace!" sign in my direction. "Nice to meet you, Kanon! I was just getting a drink after a nice exercise!" she bragged. "Can't do a ton of running here on the train, so I've been using the treadmill in the gym."

I widened my eyes, now curious. "We have a gym? On this train?" I asked Guadalupe.

"We sure do!" she answered, winking at me. "This train is top-notch, after all. Provided by Hope's Peak Academy and what-have-you!" she then leaned back in her chair, watching the same snowboarding program that Yuki was watching. "Hey, why are we watching snowboarding? Turn on something else!"

I tuned out Yuki's and Guadalupe's playful quarreling as Masaki turned back to me again. "Guadalupe here can run a mile in less than six minutes, she can run for six hours on end without getting tired, and she almost got the world record for marathon completion, but just missed it by two seconds."

"Wow..." I just looked back at Guadalupe and Yuki. These two athletes were top of the line, the types of people you only read about in magazines. There was just no way I could even compete with them in the "Ultimate" category.

"One day, I'll win that world record! Just you watch!" Guadalupe boasted.

Yuki snickered in response. "And in that time, I might have _two_ world records!"

"Just you _try!_ " Guadalupe taunted.

I just sighed in response. Two pro athletes with incredible accolades under their belts, along with everyone else who was here. Who was I kidding? I simply didn't belong here. I gave a sigh, but then Masaki put his hand on my shoulder. I jumped a bit at his touch, but his hand felt so warm, so comforting. I turned to look back at him as he smiled at me.

"Why don't we see who else we can meet up with here?" Masaki suggested to me again. "There's still a lot of people to meet, though we have plenty of time. Anything else you'd like to do?"

I looked back at the television, and back at Yuki and Guadalupe. "Not really. I'm interested in seeing what other interesting people we will meet here. I'm sure there's quite a few!"

Masaki chuckled again, scratching the back of his head. "This is only the surface. Wait until you meet the rest!"

I gave a short laugh in response. "Oh, now I'm a little frightened!"

"Don't be!" Masaki replied. "Trust me, you'll like everyone else here!"

Masaki led me down the stairs of the train, where we entered a car with twenty-four different computer monitors.

"We have a computer room?" I asked Masaki. "This means I can print my pictures here!" With all the pictures I would take while on this field trip, having some place to print them all out was a godsend to me.

"We sure do!" Masaki replied. "You can access the internet here too, somehow. Just be warned that some websites aren't available here, for some reason. As in, they just won't even load."

I observed each individual computer, until I noticed an overweight man sitting in a chair. He wore a sweaty yellow t-shirt and brown cargo pants, and his hair was greasy and borderline dreadlocked. A large pair of headphones rested upon his head and a microphone sat in front of his face. "Oh, looks like someone beat us here."

"Yes!" exclaimed the fat man in the chair. His voice was deep and visceral, and I could see from the reflection of his computer screen that he wore a thick pair of glasses and uneven facial stubble. "We just hit 3 million subs! I'll have to play an hour longer today."

A few seconds passed, and Masaki leaned in closer to me. "Him? Oh, that's just Kaemon Nakama. He's the Ultimate Game Livestreamer. Apparently he's the biggest streamer on Twitch."

"H-hello, Kaemon!" I greeted him, approaching the Ultimate Game Livestreamer.

Kaemon gave an exasperated huff. "Alright, hold on for a minute, guys." He then turned to Masaki and I, shooting us a cold glare. "Can't you see I'm in the middle of a stream right now? Get out of here or something."

I looked to the side, just wanting to get this introduction over with. I wasn't sure if I just came in at the wrong time, but Kaemon was definitely rubbing me the wrong way right now. "Umm… my name is Kanon Amari, and I'm the Ultimate Photojournalist-"

Kaemon rolled his eyes, turning himself back to his computer and putting his headphones back on. "Yeah, this bitch here won't leave me alone. Casuals, am I right?" He then gave a laugh to the computer.

I fumed, clenching my fists so hard that steam might as well have been rising from them. "What a jerk!" I shouted. "See if I ever talk to him again!"

Masaki sighed, then approached Kaemon. "Alright, listen here, you little shit. Apologize to Kanon right now."

Kaemon simply put up a middle finger in our direction, not even dignifying Masaki's demand with a response.

"I'm so sorry about that." Masaki apologized to me. "Yeah, when I said you'll like everyone else... I guess I meant ALMOST everyone else."

Before Masaki-san could continue, the lights abruptly flickered out. The whole car went dark and Kaemon's screen shut off.

"Son of bitch!" screamed Kaemon. I stepped backward, suddenly frightened of what Kaemon would possibly do. "I just reach three million and four subs too!"

"What happened here?" Masaki asked. "And how did it happen?"

I was about to add something in, but as quickly as it had started, the lights came back on. Kaemon's computer screen turned back on as well.

"Well, that was fast," Masaki began. "I know who that probably was-"

"Heh, sorry about all that!" a higher-pitched voice with a heavy Arabic accent, possibly Lebanese. "Everything should be under control now!" After calling that out, a darker-skinned girl dressed in a yellow vest above a black undershirt, with black shorts adorned with yellow stripes below. She wore yellow glasses as well as a yellow hat with a large black patch on the front, as she smiled at us.

"Oh, hello!" I greeted her. "You fixed the lights?"

"I sure can!" the girl confirmed. "It's what I do best!"

"This is Azizah Ali." Masaki informed me. "She's the Ultimate Electrician. She's not actually from Japan, but rather, from a small town in Lebanon. She apparently built a generator which functions as their primary source of power now."

Azizah shrugged her shoulders. "Yep, that's all true!" she replied to Masaki. "I don't really like to brag, but... something like this? It was just easy for me."

"Thank you, Azizah!" I thanked her, bowing to her. "I'm Kanon Amari, the Ultimate Photojournalist!"

"Why, it's nice to meet you, Kanon!" Azizah replied, giving me a similar bow of her own. "I look forward to seeing you around more!"

In the midst of my visiting with Azizah, Kaemon piped up and shouted at all of us. "Hey! Can you guys go somewhere else? I'm in the middle of a stream here!"

Azizah shrugged, giving a sheepish smile.

"Why don't we go somewhere else?" asked Masaki. "We'll see you around, Azizah! And hopefully we don't run into Kaemon too much more..."

Masaki and I walked in through the door across the room, and inside we found a completely white room, lined with solid black tables which had many different clear beakers filled with differently-colored liquids. Standing behind one of the tables was a short person with pure white hair, whiter than even Yuki's. They wore a pale blue lab coat, and their face was covered with a pair of clear goggles, and they wore blue rubber gloves on their hands. They seemed to be mixing a few chemicals together as a figure opposite them watched from a chair.

In the chair sat a rather pale woman dressed in all black, wearing a thin black tank top, and above it, what appeared to be a long-sleeved shirt without the front. She sat cross-legged, wearing a black skirt above black leggings, and long black boots tied with belts. Her eyes seemed to glow a blood red, and she had this ominous wide grin upon her face. Her black hair was mess of split ends and tangles, and in her gloved hand appeared to be a doll of some sort, which she was sticking needles into.

The science lab certainly had a terrible smell to it, worse than Tame's from before. It smelled like rusted iron and burning alcohol, not the best combination of odors. Before I could say anything to Masaki or to the two people there, I heard the one in the lab coat give us a warning.

"Cover your eyes." They instructed us.

"What?" I asked, tilting my head.

"Better listen. They know what they're talking about." Masaki advised me. The two of us shielded our eyes with our hands, as suddenly a burst of smoke and fire rose from a beaker in front of the person with the lab coat.

 _BOOM!_

I coughed, still closing my eyes. After a few seconds, I opened my eyes back up, gasping for air. "What... was that?" I asked.

"Why, that was... _magical!_ Like the finest of black magic incurring the wrath of the demon lords! Quite the spectacle if I say so myself." raved the girl in all black. Her eerie smile got wider as she said those words aloud. I reclined a bit, trying to keep good distance from her.

"E-excuse me," I began hoping I wasn't interrupting anything. "But may I ask who you two are?"

The person in the lab coat scratched his chin. "Well, there was nothing really magical about this, really, but-" They then turned to Masaki and I, and raised their eyebrows. "Oh, hello. I see we have a new face today. My name is Shiro Sakai, the Ultimate Chemist."

Masaki leaned in close to me again. "Shiro is headed toward something really big. They've won a Nobel Prize in chemistry, and some people are already comparing them to Curie or Einstein."

I tilted my head a bit - Shiro reminded me of a boy, but why was Masaki referring to them as... them? "Them?" I asked Masaki.

"Yes." Shiro replied. "See, I'm non-binary."

Oh, that made sense. I had learned about non-binary people before, that I hadn't met any in real life quite yet. "O-oh, alright! You go by 'they/them' then?" I asked them.

"That is correct." Shiro confirmed. "Thank you, you seem to be more accepting of that than others." They murmured a bit, before clearing their throat. "Anyway, I was just showing what happens when you mix a little bit of pure potassium with water. It's a fun little party trick to show off when others are bored out of their minds."

"What other magic spells can you perform?" asked the girl in black. "The dark lord would be _very_ impressed with your skills. He may even offer to let you join in his army."

Shiro gave a sigh, then rolled their eyes. "I told you, this wasn't the result of magic…" They picked up another beaker, holding it up in the light and swirling it around in the air a bit.

With great reluctance, I turned my head toward the girl in black, hoping this encounter wouldn't last too long. "And who are you?" I asked her.

"The name is Dark Lady Aiko Amane!" she boasted, grinning wide at me. "I, uh… seem to be unable to remember what my petrifyingly awful title is. I'm the Ultimate, umm… something. Allow me some time to think, mortal." She then gave a nervous laugh as she poked and prodded at her voodoo doll some more.

"Aiko has kind of a bad memory, so you might have to remind her your name a few times." Masaki then leaned in close again. She's also a little on the eccentric side..."

"It's, um, nice to meet you, Aiko! Kanon Amari, Ultimate Photojournalist!" I introduced myself.

"Ahh, so the mortal is an Ultimate as well!" Aiko exclaimed. "You're a master of the black magic which seals a moment of time into a square, yes?" She asked me, tilting her head. Her wording was rather confusing, and it took me a few seconds to finally understand what she was talking about.

"If you mean taking photographs, well, I guess I'm pretty good at it, but-" Before I could finish my sentence, Aiko cut me off.

"Mwahaha!" Aiko laughed. Her "evil laugh" sounded fake and forced, and not intimidating in the slightest. Not even the most comical of supervillains would have picked Aiko's laugh as their signature laugh. "One day, you and I shall be joined in the art of black magic, with fellow occult member Shiro!"

Shiro simply sighed at Aiko, rolling their eyes at her again. "How many times do I have to tell you that what I do is not magic…?"

Masaki started to walk out the doorway. "Uh, Kanon… there's plenty of other people for us to meet, why don't we go see them?"

I nodded as Masaki and I went back through the door of the science lab, and the computer room, television room, and food car as we ended up back where we started.

"There's more that way," Masaki informed me, pointing at the door on the other side of the car. We walked all the way to the other side and entered into the next room, the kitchen. A heavenly aroma wafted through the car, smelling of the world's finest bakery. Even though I had eaten sushi earlier, my stomach suddenly demanded lots of baked goods.

"Good lord, it smells delicious in here!" I exclaimed, on the verge of drooling again. "It's like I entered a five-star bakery!" My mouth began to water immediately.

Right as I said that, a short and plump woman dressed in a baker's apron with a beige shirt and pants underneath and pink oven mitts approached us, holding a pan with a cake inside. She also wore a maid's headband atop her head, Oh, hello! I'm baking cake. Did you two want any?" she asked us both.

My eyes lit up with excitement. "I would love some! It smells so good!" I exclaimed.

"Oh, yes please!" Masaki replied to her. "This is Asa Miyoshi, the Ultimate Baker. One of the sweetest people on this train."

Asa blushed, and then giggled a bit in response. I glanced back at Masaki, suddenly feeling a little jealous of Asa for some reason. It might have simply been for the reasons I was jealous of everyone else - they were all deserving of the title of "Ultimate", while I really... wasn't. But that might not have been it either. "Aw, Masaki, you're making me blush! You're quite sweet yourself!" Asa replied. I inhaled deeply, trying not to lash out.

 _She's just being nice._ I told myself.

"Now, who is this cutie here? She looks so thin. You should eat lots of cake!" asked Asa. I blushed a bit, reclining again.

"Y-you think I'm cute?" I asked, trying to hide my reddening face. Masaki shrugged a bit, smiling back at me. I almost lost myself in the moment, until I realized that I hadn't yet properly introduced myself to Asa. "Oh, I'm Kanon Amari, the Ultimate Photojournalist. It's so nice to meet you!" I greeted her. She gave me a warm smile in return.

"It's so nice to meet you too!" Asa replied, pulling a cake with only one slice missing out of the refrigerator next to the oven. "Please, help yourself to some cake! There's enough for everyone on this train!"

The cake did look absolutely _beautiful._ It was a large round one, frosted with light blue icing and topped with a little bit of hot pink frosting as well. It was a vanilla-chocolate cake inside, and it looked absolutely _perfect_.

"The cake is finished?!" squealed a high soprano voice. Suddenly, a very tall girl easily the same height as Masaki rushed in through the door. Her hair was in a large variety of fashions - very long in the back, with two ponytails up behind her head and two curly pigtails in front. It was also flashy hot-pink, with blue-purple tips. She wore a midriff-exposing white schoolgirl shirt, adorned with a large red bow and paired with a blue pleated skirt. Below she wore pink leggings which turned purple and then blue the lower they went, as well as high white high heels which made her even look even taller. The final touches were a pink winged face mask, a heart-shaped crystal necklace, and a large blue star painted on the side of her right cheek. "It smells so oishii!" she exclaimed, her accent clearly not sounding Japanese whatsoever but still making the most desperate attempt to sound that way. She was either an idol, or cosplayer. Or both.

"Hey, where did you come from?" I asked her. She _did_ seem to rush in here almost immediately.

"I was just in the bathroom, getting my hair done-" She replied, but then she looked at me and jumped. Then, she gasped in an ear-piercing shriek. "Oh! You're the kawaii girl who was asleep on the seat! You're finally awake! This is so sugoi! What's your name?"

"Um…" I looked to the side, suddenly feeling nervous. This girl was clearly a lot to handle at once, and she would definitely drain my energy if I were to spend too much time with her. "Kanon Amari, Ultimate Photojournalist… you?" I muttered to her, trying to get this over with as soon as possible.

"This is Amy-" Masaki was about to introduce her to me, but then she cut him off at just the right second.

"Oh. My. Kami. Do you really not know?" she asked me, her eyes widening with the most ridiculous amount of shock I had ever seen in someone's face. "I'm the famed Amy-chan Sakura, the Ultimate Cosplay Idol!" Wait, was her name really Amy-chan?

"Her music is very popular in the United States and Japan. I've heard she's gone Platinum with each album she's released." Masaki informed me. Say what you want about her personality, but she's quite the sensation here.

"Th-that's amazing!" I replied to Masaki. I had to hand it to her - she certainly had more of a place here than I did.

"If you'd like," Amy-chan began, flashing a "peace" sign and a cheerful smile. "You can attend my super sugoi, kawaii concert tonight! I just need to eat some of Asa-chan's oishii sweets! They make me feel even _more_ kawaii!"

"Y-yeah, that'd be… great." I replied. Truth be told, I kind of wanted to say "No". Concerts weren't really my thing, and Amy-chan was someone whose energy would really start to wear you out if you weren't as happy and peppy as she was. She was really better in small doses.

Amy-chan suddenly grabbed both my hands, something which surprised me quite a bit. "You're a _super_ sugoi photographer, right? Could you please get lots and lots of pictures of watashi? Please, Kanon-chan?" She practically begged.

I sighed, pulling my hands away from her. "Look, Amy-chan, you're cute and sweet, but you can tone down the gratuitous Japanese and the honorifics… besides, you're supposed to do that with the last names."

Amy-chan puffed her cheeks out and pouted. "Aww... but it's soooooo much more kawaii to do that with the first names, Kanon-chan! What about you, Masaki-kun? You agree with me, right?" She asked Masaki, giving him a so obviously feigned pouty-face.

Masaki shrugged, then scratched the back of his head. "Heh… whatever you say, Amy-chan." He replied.

"Yay!" Amy-chan exclaimed, jumping up into the air and almost hitting her head on the ceiling of the train. Amy-chan, Masaki, and I then _finally_ had some of Asa's cake. It was absolutely delicious! My tongue danced with joy as I slowly chewed the soft crumbs and creamy icing. It was the best cake I'd eaten in my entire life! Of course, Masaki and I couldn't stand be around Amy-chan much longer.

"Oh!" Masaki began. "We just remembered, we've got... places to go! Yeah, lots of other places to go. We'll catch you two later!" Masaki excused us. He walked down the stairs of the kitchen, and I followed right behind him.

The two of us arrived downstairs, where we saw that the floor was covered with several blue mats and many different weights and fitness machines were spread all over. This must have been the gym.

"Oh, I think you mentioned this train having a gym before. I just didn't think it would be this big…" I muttered to myself. I was never quite the athletic type, but I guess it never hurt to try.

"Yep, it's pretty big-" Masaki began. Suddenly, his eyes widened as he stepped backward, and leaned close to me again. "Hey, Kanon? I'll just be in the next car. You meet these two."

I raised an eyebrow at Masaki. "Where are you going?" Before I could even get anything resembling an answer, Masaki had already dashed off.

"Hey, were you just with Masaki?" asked a smug, deep voice. Suddenly, a tall and muscular man dressed in a police uniform walked out to me. He wore thick sunglasses as well, and his belt had a holstered gun and a baton to its sides. He gave me a smug grin as he reached for the baton on his belt. "Don't try and lie!"

I squeaked, jumping backward as I froze in position. I suddenly feared for my life as this imposing policeman interrogated me. "Well, I was just-"

"Listen to me!" demanded the policeman, pulling out his baton. "I'm Hideki Harada, the Ultimate Interrogator! Where is Masaki?! I clearly saw you with him!"

My eyes widened as my arms and legs began to feel weak. My knees wobbled as he yelled at me, and his grin only grew wider and more smug. Oh, how I wish Masaki were here right now! It would have been less scary if I wasn't alone...

"Hey, Hideki!" called out an unfamiliar baritone voice. "Leave that girl alone!" Right behind Hideki was the tallest man I'd seen here today - he practically towered over Hideki, who was a little taller than Masaki! He wore a a red t-shirt with black gym shorts, and his muscles were incredibly toned. I was glad this guy was sticking up for me, at least.

Hideki's grin turned into a scowl as he turned away. "Grr… You just got lucky, alright? What's your name?"

I gulped down my fear, now feeling a little better as the voice seemed to get him away from me."K-Kanon… Amari… Ultimate Photojournalist…"

Hideki scowled at me again, clenching his fists. "You're a photojournalist, huh?" He sighed, and then turned away from me. "You better not get any pictures of me while I'm on duty, alright? I don't do anything wrong."

The very tall man shook his head and approached me, putting his hand on my shoulder. "Don't listen to Harada. He just likes to scare people because he's an officer in training. I'm Ryo Shinobu, the Ultimate Basketball Star!" He flashed a grin and thumbs-up in my direction, and then turned back to Hideki, and glared at him. "And Hideki, if you ever threaten Amari-chan like that again, you're goin' down. Don't act like you're so tough when you're not being Mr. Vigilante here."

Ryo was a real life-saver here. I smiled at him, and gave a polite bow. "Thank you so much, Ryo-" Then, I gasped. I realized something - I had seen this man before! "Wait, I recognize you! I saw you on television once! You were in an interview, where someone called you the Michael Jordan of Japan!"

Ryo scratched his head and chuckled, looking away for a second. "Heh… I'm not sure if that's quite a fitting title for me… but what the hell, I'll take it!"

The difference between Harada and Shinobu was absolutely astounding astounding… Harada was scary and mean, but Shinobu was nice and friendly… and not to mention really tall. This guy had to have girls all over him! He was kind of like Masaki, except taller.

"Amari-chan, how about it? Wanna lift some weights with me?" Ryo offered.

I smiled at Ryo, but then shook my head. "I'm sorry, but I'm not really the active type. Maybe sometime later?"

Ryo shrugged, and then flashed a smile and thumbs-up again. "That's just fine! I guess I'll see you around, Kanon!"

Hideki shook his head as I exited the car, but I didn't look back. I hoped I hadn't been keeping Masaki too long.

The next car had some smaller shelves packed with various books, and a few small tables to supposedly read said books. Masaki was waiting for me at one of the tables, looking into the distance.

"Okay, good," Masaki began. "Looks like nothing bad happened. I just... can't be around Hideki, I just know something bad will happen between us…"

That certainly made sense. A thief and an interrogator don't exactly go hand-in-hand with each other. I took a deep breath, as the library was quite peaceful. I expected this one to be quieter than the last two rooms. I sat in silence, inhaling the old and dusty library air. There was something oddly pleasant about the smell of a library.

"There's lots of people here too." Masaki stated, breaking the silence after a few seconds. "You might want to talk to them." I nodded. Right behind Masaki was a woman dressed like a teacher, school uniform and dress and all. She had thick glasses and her dirty blonde hair was neatly trimmed and groomed, save for one cowlick in the center of her head. She was going through the various books, seeming to look around for one in particular.

"Hmm, these are all high school-level books…" she muttered. "I wonder if there are any college-level textbooks around…?"

Why was she looking for college-level textbooks? We were all high-schoolers. But what if she was a teacher? "Oh, hello! You a teacher?" I called out to her.

She huffed, and then turned to Masaki and I. "No, but that's just a common mistake," she replied, dusting off her dress. "I'm just an advanced student who tested at college-level thinking, and as such, I'm just looking to improve my skills even further."

"This is Michiru Rakuyama." He introduced her to me. "She's the Ultimate Scholar. She gets straight A's in all of her classes and is well-rounded in every single school subject. Everything any of us here can do, she can do too. Just, probably not quite as well."

"Which is why I must improve myself!" Michiru exclaimed. She slammed the book she had pulled out back in, with a glimmer of frustration in her eye. "I'm so tired of being a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none. One day I will be a master-of-all!" she shouted.

"Well, you know what they say!" In actuality, I had no idea what to say. _Oh, crap!_ I thought to myself. Now I had to come up with something. "Jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none, better than a master-of-one!"

Michiru shrugged her shoulders and gave me a shrug. "I suppose that much is true…" she murmured under her breath. "Anyway, I really should be getting to my studies. I have a promising future at prestigious college, after all." She then pulled out a few books from the shelf and walked off toward a table, carrying all her books.

"It was great meeting you, Michiru!" I called out to her.

"When it gets down to it, Michiru is actually really nice." Masaki informed me. "She's just a little upset that everyone else has a talent, but she doesn't really stand out anywhere in particular. Just goes to show that anyone can have poor self-esteem, you know?"

Then, a voice from behind me called out. I turned to see a short boy wearing a mask on his face, with a sheathed sword behind his back. "Could you please keep it down? I'm trying to read." He requested.

"Yes, sorry about that." Masaki replied with an apology.

"Who is he?" I whispered to Masaki.

"That's Kenji Yang, the Ultimate Swordplayer," Masaki whispered in return. "He's a pretty quiet and cold kinda guy. I feel bad for him, though… I've heard some pretty awful stuff about his past."

I turned around to face Kenji, then got up and sat adjacent to him. "Hello, Kenji," I whispered to him. "I am Kanon Amari, Ultimate Photojournalist. What are you reading?"

"Just some Lao Tzu. His works calm my nerves and soothe my soul." Kenji replied, not once looking up from his book.

That name certainly sounded familiar to me. Like one of those philosophers people quote out of context to inadvertently support their own ideals. "Lao Tzu? I remember reading about him back in middle school, but I can't remember a thing he said… do you know any famous quotes of his?"

Kenji cleared his throat, and read off a quote from a page he was on. "'Violence, even well-intentioned, rebounds upon oneself'. It's a simplistic quote, yes, but it's words I live by." He replied to me. I nodded, interested in those words. Perhaps Kenji was more an Ultimate Philosopher than Ultimate Swordplayer?

"Oooohhhh. That's a good quote." I replied, nodding my head up and down. "Any other philosophers you read?"

Kenji looked up for a second, then looked at me. "Hmm, mostly the well-known ones. I have also read Confucius, Buddha, and Zhuangzhi. Trying to make myself at peace."

I smiled at Kenji. He seemed like the kind of guy who really could find peace if he tried. "That's… so cool. Well, I guess I'll let you keep reading then. I'll see you later!"

Kenji didn't really reply to me, but suddenly I heard a pretty loud voice across the other side of the car. In a wooden chair sat a short, petite girl with short black hair, save for two long pigtails on either side. She wore a pair of sunglasses on her face, as well as a white t-shirt. For some reason, she was wearing only one sock, a long black one which went up to her right knee. She was sorting through a collection of folders on the desk she was sitting at.

"Man… this script is never going anywhere. Trash for this one!" shouted a boisterous, mid-pitched voice.

"Who is that?" I asked Masaki.

Masaki's eyes widened. "Oh, don't tell me you've never heard of Tomoe Shinkai! She's directed all the good hit movies over the past few years!" He then sighed and looked down at the ground. "And that terrible movie, Glass Boxes."

I gasped - a famous anime artist, a few famous athletes, and now the best movie director ever? "No way, that's Tomoe Shinkai?!" I asked.

"Yep!" Tomoe answered from the other side. I guess she heard us. "The one and only! Though my cast and crew call me 'Cool Tomoe'. If you couldn't guess, I'm the Ultimate Film Director."

My eyes sparkled as I rushed over to Tomoe's chair. "Why, it's an honor to meet you, Tomoe!" I exclaimed. Kenji and Michiru glared in my direction.

"Heh, thanks!" Tomoe thanked me, grinning. "I'm just picking out one of these scripts to use for a movie. So far, I'm not impressed with any of them."

Masaki shrugged. "Guess Cool Tomoe has really high standards for scripts then, huh?"

Tomoe chuckled and tossed one of the scripts into a trash bin. "Oh yeah, trust me. Every day I get at least 200 new scripts, and on average, only about 3 of them are salvageable. The rest are honestly total shit."

"Is it hard being a director?" I asked Tomoe. In all honesty, it was probably one of those questions that was pretty high up there on the list of questions you should never ask.

"Pffft, you kidding?" Tomoe asked me, It's one of the hardest jobs in the whole world! I've gotta search through scripts, find people to hire for the selected roles, and then spend up to a few years directing my cast and crew. And worse, I can be working on up to three movies at once!" she vented at us. Who knew Cool Tomoe would be the complaining type?

"That sounds like a busy life…" I muttered beneath my breath. "Well, I don't want to distract you too much from your work. Masaki, why don't we go to the next car?"

"Good idea." Masaki obliged. "See you later, Tomoe!"

The next room over was a darker room, filled with lots of different tables for games and entertainment. There was a pachinko table, a pinball table, a few arcade machines, and what appeared to be a shooting game found at some sort of carnival. It certainly looked like a lot of fun.

"And this is our game room!" Masaki stated to me. "The bathrooms can be found in here, and it's where you'll find most of us, most of the time."

At the pachinko table was a man wearing a brown suit, and with a fuzzy shaven head of brown hair. He was of modest height and stature, though his entire presence seemed to ooze class and importance. Behind him was a very short and skinny boy, dressed in a white button-up shirt and shorts. A silver studded belt held his shorts up, and he wore white high heels with his black socks. Atop his head rested a white top hat, and he held a black cane in his right hand. I had to admit it - one of them had class, the other had style.

"Huh, I never took _these_ two for the pachinko-playing types." Masaki stated to me.

"I'm about to win this one! Just one more ball and I win!" shouted the one in the brown suit.

"Hmm, I don't quite think you're going to make it." replied the one in the white top hat. He flashed a smug grin at the other guy, who was growing red in the face from his frustration at the pachinko game.

"Hey, I am the best at games like this!" The guy in the suit claimed. "Kids like you wouldn't understand!"

"We're the same age…" The one in the top hat replied, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, hey there!" I called out to the two of them. "I'm Kanon Amari, Ultimate Photojournalist-"

"Dammit, you just made me screw up!" shouted the guy in the suit, clenching his fists and glaring at me. "Now I have to wait until my next turn before I can win again!" He gave a long, exasperated sigh, then looked back at me and smiled. "The name's Lorenzo Ricci, Ultimate Entrepreneur. I don't mind that I just spent 200 yen on this machine… I have plenty of money to spare anyway."

"Looks like it's my turn to go up." The boy in the top hat noted. "I'm Utamuro Ozawa, by the way. I'm the Ultimate Clothing Designer. All these clothes I'm wearing right now? I made them all myself."

Lorenzo and Utamuro were two of the coolest people I had seen so far! Lorenzo was super rich… and Utamuro made all those himself? If there was any doubt that these people were out of my league, it was all gone now.

"Well, whoever made these games surely knows how to do marketing well. Challenging, but not too hard or too easy, and simple enough to be addicting, but complex enough to maintain your attention. Yes, pachinko is really marketable." Lorenzo mused, his voice quiet and calculating. He eyed Utamuro playing the pachinko game the whole time during his little comment.

Utamuro briefly turned to Lorenzo. "You know, if I make it, I win."

Lorenzo scoffed, and then turned away from Utamuro. "Yeah, sure… you may be better at pachinko, but I've got enough cash to practice enough and one day beat you!" He boasted.

Utamuro smiled at Lorenzo, and pumped his fist into the air. "That's the spirit! By the time you do, you may not be so rich anymore, though!"

Masaki and I both laughed at that one, as Lorenzo's eye twitched at Utamuro's remark. I had to hand it to him- Utamuro was rather clever as well.

"Damn… that was savage." Lorenzo whispered.

"Yeah, it's not really wise to try and make fun of Utamuro," Masaki stated. "Chances are, he'll strike back with an even more brutal comeback."

"You can say that again…" Lorenzo agreed.

"And I've just won!" Utamuro boasted. "Rematch?"

Lorenzo shook his head. "Nah… I know how these machines work. They're rigged."

Utamuro rolled his eyes and laughed. "Weren't you just saying this machine was simple, but not too difficult?"

Lorenzo then buried his face in his hands, and let out a mufled "Why does this keep happening to me…".

"Why don't we keep going and let these two sort out all their drama?" Masaki suggested. The two of us walked forward, until we passed by the bathrooms. I noticed that both doors just read "Restroom" on them, without assigning any genders to them whatsoever.

"The bathrooms aren't gendered?" I asked, scratching my chin.

Masaki shrugged. "It's just easier that way, you know? The builder of this train is really progressive."

I smiled at that sentiment. "That's pretty good-"

THUMP!

Before I could finish my though, the bathroom door to the right flung right open. A person wearing a lilac-colored school uniform exited, and they also wore a similarly-colored skirt and cowboy hat. Their lilac hair was put into twin braids, and they wore a pair of purple glasses upon their face. I gasped when I saw their left hand - and noticed a silver pistol in it.

"You two need to use the restroom?" they asked us. Their voice was a little bit scratchy, but definitely audible.

"Oh, hey! I haven't met you yet-!" I began, trying to take any attention off of the gun they were holding at the moment.

"And where did _you_ come from?" they asked me, pointing the pistol in my face. I flung my hands up, surrendering to this person completely.

"Aaaaaahhh! I-I-I promise, I w-won't hurt you or anything! P-please get that gun out of my face!" I screamed. My heart pounded like a hammer. I could feel the inevitable coming up. That was that, this was the short life of Kanon Amari, Ultimate Photojournalist in name only-

"Kanon, it's okay, they just-"

"BANG!" shouted the person with the gun. I shrieked, ready to accept my death as- Nothing. They just stood there, pointing the gun at me, and then put the gun down and gave a laugh.

"...W-what?"

"Ha, the look on your face was _priceless!_ " They laughed. "Don't worry, it's loaded with blanks. ...Sorry, I promise I won't do that again. Name's Toko Matsura, the Ultimate Gunslinger! I use they/them pronouns, just lettin' ya know."

I scowled at Toko, kind of upset with them for pointing that gun at me. I really felt like I was going to die back there! I figured the best I could do was introduce myself, though. "Th-that was quite the first impression… nice to, uh… meet you, Matsura-chan… Kanon Amari is my name… I'm the Ultimate Photojournalist."

"So we have one thing in common! We both love takin' shots!" Toko replied. I sighed, not really finding that joke to be necessarily funny.

"Your phrasing is really weird…" I muttered in return, giving another sigh.

"Hey, I was just about to head to the shooting range game! You wanna head there with me?" Toko invited Masaki and I. I really didn't want to go with them, but... I guess there wasn't much else I could do.

"Maybe not a bad idea. There's a few others you still haven't met yet." Masaki informed me.

"S-Sure I guess…" I replied, clutching onto the side of my sleeve. Toko was really freaking me out… At least I still had Masaki with me.

Over at the shooting range portion of the room was a set of targets, and fake guns attached to joysticks. There were two stations there, one being occupied by yet another petite girl way too busty for own good. She had medium-length blue hair which was trimmed at a straight light at the bottom, with green tips. She wore a blue-green shirt with a circle in the middle of the chest, exposing much of her cleavage and a green bra. She also wore a skirt which was way too short on someone like her; I swore I could see her panties! For some reason, one of her eyes was purple, and the other was blue. She also had turquoise gloves and socks, and deep blue lace-less sneakers.

The one who occupied the other station was a tall and bulky black man, with a grease-stained grain shirt and pants. His black hair was shaven at the top, and it seemed that his arms and face had plenty of scars from burns and cuts. His pants were held up by a black leather belt, with several bends and notches in it. He overall towered over the girl he was sitting with.

"Aw, what?! Is my aim really this terrible?" asked the girl.

"You'll get better, if you just practice a bit." replied the guy.

"Outta the way, varmints!" Toko shouted out, appearing behind the two of them. "I'm the best gunslinger in town!"

"Toko!" shouted the girl. "Please, I'm losing! Tag me out?"

"Since when are there tag-outs in this game?" asked the guy.

"H-hello… my name is Kanon Amari, Ultimate Photojournalist. Nice to meet you all." I introduced myself to them. Toko and the other two turned around to face me.

"Hi hi! My name is Saeko Nura, the Ultimate Collector! I'm not too good with guns, but Matsura-chan, my new friend, is helping me learn how to use them!" the girl greeted me with a huge smile.

"I'm Daquan Brown, Ultimate Steelworker." The guy did the same, with a smile on his face too. "Saeko, Toko, and I all became friends, and we're playin' this shooting game. I guess I'm pretty good at this game, but I can never hope to beat Toko."

Saeko was so cute and bubbly, and not really obnoxious like Amy-chan. Daquan seemed like a wholesome kind of guy. Really, it was Toko I was a little on-edge about…

"Alright, looks like we've met just about everyone now!" Masaki concluded. "I don't want to distract you guys from your game too much longer." Masaki told to Toko, Saeko, and Daquan. We were about to head out of the game room, when suddenly-

BING-BONG, BING-BONG!

A sound like a bell chimed throughout. Everyone stopped where they were as suddenly, a yellow camera dropped down from the ceiling, pointing itself at us. A yellow monitor appeared out of the wall, and flickered a few times before turning itself on. A stuffed bear appeared on the screen - a teddy bear, one half white and innocent-looking, and the other half black with sharp teeth and a red eye. Then, the stuffed bear began to talk.

"Welcome, students of Hope's Peak Academy!" The stuffed bear shouted out in a screechy, high-pitched voice. "My name is Monokuma! You have all been selected for a one-of-a-kind school field trip, where we will tour across the land by train, seeing all sorts of fun places and landmarks! Meet me in the main car as soon as possible! Anyone not there in ten minutes will face harsh consequences! Upupupu~" The screen shut off, and we all stood there in silence for a few seconds.

"What... was that?" I asked.

Masaki shook his head. "I'm not taking any chances. Let's go."

With not a moment to lose, we all headed toward and met up in the main car. I sat down where I had woken up an hour or so before, and Masaki took the seat next to me. Michiru and Kenji had arrived before we did, and after us followed Asa and Amy-chan. Next up were Lorenzo and Utamuro, then Toko, Saeko, and Daquan. Hideki and Ryo were next. Tame, Kaemon, and Azizah followed shortly after. Shiro and Aiko came in next, with Tomoe not far behind. Guadalupe and Yuki were net to arrive. Finally, Rai and Hikooki arrived, filling up the last two seats… except for one.

"Ah, I see we're all here then, hmm?" asked the voice of Monokuma, who suddenly appeared to us, standing atop one of the tables. "Michiru Rakuyama, Kenji Yang, Masaki Domoto, Kanon Amari, Asa Miyoshi, Amy-chan Sakura, Lorenzo Ricci, Utamuro Ozawa, Toko Matsura, Saeko Nura, Daquan Brown, Hideki Harada, Ryo Shinobu, Tame Maeda, Kaemon Nakama, Azizah Ali, Shiro Sakai, Aiko Amane, Tomoe Shinkai, Guadalupe Garcia, Yuki Hatano, Rai Yoshizawa, Hikooki Kawata… we're missing one."

Who could we have possibly been missing? Not two seconds after Monokuma said that we were missing someone, an average-sized man dressed in a doctor's outfit burst through the door. He wore a light blue scrubs with matching pants and shoes, as well as blue gloves. He wore a face mask that doctors wear to protect their faces, and he wore his short black hair up in a spiky fashion.

"Sorry, just… getting all my things ready." the guy stated, breathing heavily.

"Ah, just in time! You were almost late, Sen!" Monokuma shouted at him.

"Heh… looks like I'm pretty lucky." this "Sen" person replied, taking the empty seat next to Hikooki.

"Who is this?" I asked Monokuma.

Monokuma jumped up onto the table in front of Hikooki and Sen, and then motioned toward Sen. "Kanon Amari, let me introduce to you the Ultimate Doctor, or in this case, Ultimate Near-Tardy, Sen Ikehara!"

"Good to meet you, Kanon Amari! I see you woke from your slumber." Sen stated. "Just a classic case of anxiety fainting. It's pretty common."

Before Sen could finish his sentence, Monokuma began to speak again. "The socializing can be saved for later! Anyway, class, we are going on a school field trip! We will visit exciting locations! We will have lots of fun adventures! And we will do it all while aboard the Monokuma Express! Now, underneath all of your seats is your e-Handbook! It has been personalized for each of you."

I reached underneath my seat, to find a rectangular device resembling a touch-screen tablet. So this was the e-Handbook? I tapped the screen, and a digital readout of my name and title appeared in front of the screen. There were also four different options listed on the right side of the e-Handbook: School Regulations, Map, Monokuma File. I clicked on each one of them, though clicking on Monokuma File yielded no results.

"Before you get the chance to play around with your e-Handbook some more, you all need to learn the Field Trip regulations!" Monokuma began. He cleared his throat. "Rule Number 1, students may only reside on the train, and within the confines of each station the train stops at. Leaving violates your permission slips, and punishment for this will be severe."

Wait, what permission slip? I couldn't remember filling one out… in fact, I couldn't remember agreeing to this field trip at all! What day was it? How long had I been going to Hope's Peak Academy? And since when was a stuffed bear our chaperone?

"So… rules that we should all know to follow anyway?" Lorenzo asked.

"Hey!" Monokuma shouted at Lorenzo. "Listen to me when I'm talking to you! Ahem. Rule number two: Nighttime is from 10 pm to 7 am. Some areas will be off-limits during this time, so exercise caution."

"This is not one of those wretched diurnal schemes to quell the night owls, where we are forced to remain in our lairs until the morning sun rises from its grave?" Aiko asked, still using her odd wordplay.

Monokuma gave a sigh, and then glared at Aiko. "Look, I don't really care what you do during Nighttime, just as long as it doesn't break any school rules. Now, quiet, you. Rule three: Sleeping anywhere other than the train rooms is considered sleeping in class, and will be punished accordingly."

"Okay, but what if one of us passes out completely on accident?" asked a concerned-sounding Guadalupe.

"Good thing you guys have a doctor on board!" bragged Sen.

"Rule four!" Monokuma shouted out, ignoring Guadalupe and Sen. "With some restriction, students are free to explore the Monokuma Express and each station to their heart's content!"

Oh, this was perfect! I knew I would get plenty of photo opportunities here. I was going to take all the pictures I could!

"...Huh, no one's going to say anything that time. Anyway, rule number five! Violence against conductor and coordinator Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as with destruction of cameras and monitors!"

"D-damn you, Monokuma…" Hideki muttered. I guess that guy really didn't like being filmed or watched.

"I'll just let that slide for now." Monokuma murmured, giving a passive-aggressive glare toward Hideki. "Oh, now here's my favorite rule! Are you all ready for this?"

What was Monokuma about to say? We all waited in anticipation of what Monokuma was about to say to us. Whatever it was couldn't be more ridiculous than the fact that I was on a train with no memory of ever coming here, and that it was all being hosted by a stuffed bear…

"Rule number six!" Monokuma shouted out, with passion in his voice and fire in his eyes. "There is only one small, tiny, insignificant thing you must do in order to return home and graduate from Hope's Peak Academy! You must… kill one of your fellow students, and get away with it."

"Wh-what?!" I shouted out. Everyone else looked at each other with looks of fear or denial, although Hideki and Aiko gave especially creepy glances. Suddenly, no one was safe. I couldn't look at anyone - not even Masaki - without seeing the face of a potential murderer.

"Upupupu~" Monokuma laughed. "You say that now, but who knows just what the circumstances may hold for you in the future? Now, without further ado, I think we've arrived at our stop!"

Suddenly, the train stopped. My heart skipped a beat as I looked around at everyone. Masaki, Michiru, Kenji, Tame, Kaemon, Azizah, Hideki, Ryo, Asa, Amy-chan, Toko, Daquan, Saeko, Guadalupe, Yuki, Tomoe, Lorenzo, Utamuro, Aiko, Shiro, Sen… any one of them could turn into a killer at any moment. I couldn't trust a single person here.

"Kanon… Please don't ever become a killer." Masaki requested, looking away from me.

I nodded. "I won't. Masaki, I ask that you don't become a killer either."

Masaki gave a similar nod. "I won't."

"It is now time for everyone to head outside, as we explore the first station! Just enjoy yourselves, relax! Have fun!" Monokuma exclaimed. Although I'm not sure he quite got the irony in telling us to relax after essentially requiring us to kill one another... though it's entirely possible that he did.

I stepped outside, walking side-by-side with Masaki the whole time. I wondered if it was possible to even have fun here…

PROLOGUE END


	2. Chapter 1: First Stop

I stepped outside of the train and onto the concrete platform below, side-by-side with Masaki. This first station we arrived at was inside a large closed space, with a flat concrete ground and a rounded, concave ceiling, like a half-cylinder. The bright, yellow sun shone through the transparent window which made up the station's ceiling. One would be able to see tree branches and various shapes of green leaves brushing against the roof window, giving a natural vibe to the area. Flowers, bushes, and small trees of all kinds were planted all around the station, directly underneath the window ceiling to absorb sunlight.

Right in front of us was a short, thin sakura tree only around 159 centimeters, only two centimeters taller than myself. The pale, pink blossoms were radiating with their color, appearing to be healthy and watered to perfection. It was the type of tree you could never take a real picture of, just one you would create in Photoshop or some editing program such as that. Something like this was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I pulled my camera out of my bag and turned it on, positioning it for a photograph of the perfect sakura tree. With the satisfying "Click!" of the camera taking a picture, I had saved a photograph of the tree.

"Oh my Kami, it's a sugoi sakura tree! It's _soooooooo_ kanari!" Amy-chan raved, her eyes gleaming as she gazed at the pink-blossomed tree before us all.

"Welcome to the MonoGarden!" Monokuma announced to all of us, leaping out of the train and facing us. "We take great care of our flora here! Feel free to explore this station at your own leisure!" Before any of us could say anything else, or acknowledge the fact that it was nigh-impossible to make ourselves comfortable knowing that we had to kill each other in order to graduate from Hope's Peak Academy, Monokuma jumped back into the train. "At 10 pm tonight, meet me inside the main seating area of the train, and I'll show all of you your rooms!" He ran to the left, disappearing without saying anything else.

There was a long pause after that. We all eyed each other, glancing back-and-forth at one another.

Suddenly, one of us spoke up. Michiru pushed her glasses back, before walking up to the sakura tree. "If the sakura is in full bloom, that must mean it is in the middle of winter..." she noted. "Very interesting. Didn't we come to Hope's Peak Academy during the summer?" she asked us all. Everyone murmured among each other, conversing with each other at varying volumes. I could not make out any words anyone was saying, but it seemed that everyone was agreeing with Michiru. I thought she was probably correct - after all, I _did_ receive my letter in the middle of July.

"I think you're right," Daquan spoke up, scratching his chin. "I remember it like it was yesterday. It was sometime in July. My uncle was so proud that I got that letter and he told me not to even worry about the cost."

"Yes, yes!" Lorenzo added. He clicked his tongue, looking at the ground and then back up. "We were in the middle of our July sale when I got that letter."

A wide, creepy grin spread across Aiko's face as she gave a sinister giggle. "Maybe we've entered a time warp! The Dark Lord loves to do that. He's told me about it." She suggested.

I raised an eyebrow at Aiko, still unable to make heads or tails of anything she said. Ignoring her, I stepped in the middle of our group, pulling my phone out of my bag. While it had clearly displayed the current time (3:48 PM), today's date was missing, even though it always displayed that as well. "It's not..." I couldn't even get the words out as my hand quivered, my heart pounding out of my chest. "Even showing the date?!"

Masaki gave a sigh and scratched his chin. "That's the thing, no one really knows what day it is today. We've all tried looking at our phones, going on the internet to find out... nothing is even showing up."

Unable to comprehend my current situation, I placed my hands to the sides of my head, my phone dropping out of my hand and cracking the screen upon hitting the concrete ground. I didn't care enough at the moment to be upset at that.

"We... don't know how we got here... or what day it is... or where we are..." I whimpered, my legs trembling as I struggled to keep myself on my feet. I felt a hand rest onto my shoulder, and I turned around. Masaki gave a warm smile, even though I could tell as well as anyone that it wasn't genuine. I definitely appreciated him trying, though.

"Kanon," He began. I gulped, looking into his gray-blue eyes as he forced a smile in my direction. "It'll be alright. Just... trust me on this."

I sighed in response, unable to say anything else. I even though Masaki wasn't exactly helping me feel better about my current situation, I was at least glad he was there to help me through it. I took a deep breath, sitting beneath the sakura tree and looking up at the windowed ceiling overhead. The tree branches and leaves swayed with the wind, occasionally brushing against the building and letting out a muffled scratching sound. If Michiru had been correct, then the winter air would be cold to feel if we had been outside. Instead, it seemed to be rather warm in here, like a perfect summer temperature.

After a minute or so passed, I could see Yuki's face turning a beet red and dripping with sweat. Her tongue was hanging out of her mouth as her eyelids twitched. "It's so... hot..." she gasped, her body swaying side-to-side.

"Hey, Yuki?" I asked her. She jumped back inside the train, and then turned back toward me.

"The heat is no good for me," She muttered, gasping for air between words. "I need to get to a room with air conditioning!"

Before she had the chance to run off, I heard Guadalupe's voice from behind. "Yuki!" she called out. "I found a room with air-conditioning! Come on, you've gotta see this place!" Guadalupe then ran toward Yuki, who was still swaying from side-to-side. The poor girl could barely stand. Guadalupe then picked up Yuki, carrying her like a princess, and began to dash away, running off in the distance toward a darkened room in the left corner, away from the train.

I leaned against the sakura tree, wondering exactly how used to the cold one would have to be in order to get heat stroke from lukewarm temperatures. Masaki sat right next to me. Only a few feet away from us sat Tame and Kenji, sitting beneath a plum blossom tree. Tame appeared to be sketching something in her notebook as she bobbed her head back-and-forth with the music she was listening to (which was loud enough for Masaki and I to hear, and most definitely Kenji as well), while Kenji was still reading that Lao Tzu book. It was a picturesque scene, really - the two of them seemingly in bliss, relaxed and beneath the same tree. I pulled out my camera again, and snapped a picture of Tame and Kenji beneath the plum tree.

That's when it hit me - I had plenty of photograph opportunities in this place! Who knew what gorgeous plant life I would find, and which beautiful locations I would see, which people would allow me to snap candid photographs of them? I wanted to find out. A dorky smile spread across my face as I pondered the endless opportunities a place like this would give me.

"Hey, Masaki?" I asked the Ultimate Thief, whose eyes were closed as he leaned against the sakura tree. He opened one eye and turned his head to me.

"Hmm?" He barely even moved his mouth. Oh no, was he annoyed with me?!

I gasped, frantically pushing my glasses back up against my face and standing up. "Umm... I'm gonna go, uh... check out the place, and see if I can get any good photographs! You wanna come with?"

Masaki inhaled, and then shrugged his shoulders. "Nah, not right now," He replied. He then looked at me, and opened his eyes up and this time gave a genuine smile. "But I'd like to see all the pictures you take when you're done! I know they'll look amazing."

First, I approached Tame and Kenji, still in the same position they were just five minutes ago when I snapped their picture. "Umm..." I began, trying not to disturb their peace too much. It was at that moment that I was at a loss for words again - how would I say anything without being too invasive or forward? Then, both of them looked up at me as Tame's J-pop music stopped, and Kenji put his book down. My heart pounded as I struggled to finish my sentence.

"What do you want?" Tame asked me, mumbling with her words.

"I, uh..." My tongue felt frozen in position - I simply could not finish my sentence. What was I supposed to say now? Two of the most antisocial, quiet people among us, and neither of them seemed particularly interested in talking to me. Crap, I really did make this every bit of awkward as I imagined I would. _Stupid Kanon..._

Kenji looked away from me, burying his face in that Lao Tzu book again. "One should not open their mouth should their tongue hold words of no value." Kenji mused, his voice trailing off as he finished his sentence.

I tilted my head at him and raised an eyebrow. "Is that a Lao Tzu quote? Or is it Confucius? Or someone else you've read?" I asked him.

Kenji rolled his eyes and sighed. "No, I just made it up right now."

"O-oh..." I turned back to Masaki, and then looked at Kenji and Tame again. The two returned to their silent activities as Tame's J-pop music blared again. Taking a deep breath and exhaling, I walked away from the two of them, deciding it was better to just let them sit in peace.

I walked a little further away from the train, looking around at all the beautiful plant life surrounding me. Up ahead, I saw a wooden platform, standing no higher than a foot but being at least a meter long and two-thirds of a meter wide. It was painted with a crude gray, and pieces of the coat were chipping off. I saw Amy-chan, Daquan, Asa, and Azizah standing in front of the platform, which I now realized to be a rectangular stage of some sort.

"This stage is perfect!" Amy-chan exclaimed, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "I was going to hold my performance on the train, but I think I'll have it up here on this stage!"

"That is simply a marvelous idea!" Asa replied, beaming at Amy-chan. "I'll provide catering~!"

Azizah gave a warm smile as well, as she pulled a pair of metal pliers and a black wire wrapped in a circle from her pockets. "I can be your stage manager! Leave light and sound to me!" Azizah assured them.

"And I can build structures to hold up the lights!" Daquan added on, giving a sort of half-smile.

Amy-chan cheered as she jumped up, striking a few poses and blowing a kiss. At one point in her posing, she kicked her leg upward, giving us a full view of her hot-pink panties. I stood back a little bit, blushing slightly as I approached her. _She's tall, energetic, busty... and I'm short, tired all the time, and only a b-cup..._ I thought to myself as I approached the four of them.

"Um, excuse me," I began, pulling my camera out of my bag.

Amy-chan gasped as a huge smile plastered onto her face. "Kanon-chan!" she cheered as she ran up to me and squeezed me in a tight hug. I tried to push against her, but she was simply too strong for me. She was far stronger than one would expect! I struggled to breath as my face went in between her massive breasts.

"Let go!" I tried to yell. Though it came out sounding muffled and unintelligible.

After a few seconds passed, Amy-chan finally let go of me. I panted, trying to catch my breath. "Amy, what was that about?" I asked her.

"Are you okay?" Asa asked me, putting a hand atop my shoulder. "Your face looks awfully red..."

What? Of course it was red! Not only does the face typically get redder after a few seconds of suffocation, but I was also being asphyxiated inside of Amy-chan's gigantic boobs! It was embarrassing, to say the least... though under the right circumstances, perhaps a bit comfortable.

"Well, I guess I'm alright," I replied, taking the time to catch my breath. I flicked my braids behind my ears again, before thinking about what it was I was going to say. "If you'd like, I can take pictures for the show! Amy, you'd be a fantastic model!"

Amy-chan giggled and blew another kiss in my direction. "Arigatoo~!" she cooed, winking at me in return. Though she was annoying, I had to admit - the girl was _adorable_. Tall, slender, curvy in the right places, with a cute and approachable face. Man, if she were a little bit less obnoxious, I might have had a bit of a girl-crush going on.

Daquan cracked his knuckles, and began heading back to the train. "I'm gonna start making some rods and beams," He told us all as he walked away.

"I wonder if Utamuro would be willing to make me a kawaii outfit..." Amy-chan muttered as she also ran off, her arms at her sides as if trying to replicate the stereotypical "girly run" of anime series.

"Good heavens, look at the time!" Asa called out, looking at her phone. "I better get back inside so that my cookies don't burn! Wouldn't want that, would we?" She similarly dashed off as well, leaving me with Azizah at the stage.

Azizah pushed her glasses back up, and put her arms to her sides and gave a sort of half-smile. "So Kanon, you wanna help me set up?" she asked me, reaching into her pockets and pulling out a pair of pliers.

I gave a nervous chuckle as I stepped back, and shook my head. "O-oh, not really," I replied. "I haven't spent a day working with electricity. Photography is more my thing, really-"

Azizah chuckled at me before putting the pliers back into her pocket. "I'm just teasing," she assured me. "But really, I've got some time to kill before Daquan's done with all his work... I think I'll just sit over here and read a little bit." Azizah then moved underneath an oak tree as she pulled out a small travel-sized book, though the wording of the cover appeared to be in a completely different language. I would have never been able to read a language like it - it just appeared to be scribbles to me.

"What language is your book?" I asked Azizah. She looked into her book for a couple of seconds before she looked back up at me.

"Huh? Oh, it's just Arabic," she replied. "This book isn't anything too special - it's just a math book in Arabic."

I tried to say anything else, but I couldn't bring myself to do so. Who reads a math book for fun? Someone like Azizah must have been a much more diligent and hardworking person than I could ever be. While she was still absorbed in her book, I snapped a sneaky photograph f her as I saw a rounded doorway situated to my left, just across from Azizah's position. There wasn't a door to speak of, but it seemed that another room would be waiting for me on the other side.

I stepped through the doorway, and walked out onto another concrete platform. The soothing, therapeutic melody of water rushing in a stream echoed throughout the chamber. To my right was a small canal where a stream of water was surging from one side of the room to the other, with not a single obstacle in the stream to obstruct the passing water. On the other side of the stream was another window, which spanned across the back wall. One would not be able to get near the window, however, as it was situated directly above the cascades below. I took a deep breath, looking down at the stream below, when I jumped at the sound of a gunshot.

 _BANG!_

I basically had a heart attack upon hearing that. My limbs trembled as I got myself on my feet, and then noticed Toko standing in the corner of the room, holding up a smoking pistol.

"Gotta say," they began, spinning the gun in their left hand before pointing it at the window behind me. "Wasn't expectin' the window to be bulletproof."

"Toko!" I practically screamed at them. They raised an eyebrow at me, and frowned. "You can't just go around scaring people with your guns like that! It's dangerous!"

Toko sighed and rolled their eyes. "Alright, alright. Sorry 'bout that, didn't mean to spook ya or anything," they assured me. "Anyway, there's just a lot more room to practice shootin' than in the train."

I gave another sigh, trying not to be too upset with them. Toko seemed like the kind of person to stay as far away from as possible, especially given the conditions we had to graduate. If anyone had massive potential to kill every single one of us, it was Toko.

Suddenly I heard loud, echoing footsteps approaching us from behind. Whoever was approaching us had to be wearing high heels, judging from the sounds of the footsteps.

"Toko, what are you doing?" We both heard at once. I turned around to see Michiru, with a stern and annoyed expression on her face, and holding a thick textbook at her left side. She pushed her glasses up and scowled at Toko. "I do not mean to be rude, but some of us are trying to study here."

Toko just gave a chuckle and twirled their pistol around again. "Sorry, brainy, I'm just doin' my own studyin'!" Toko laughed.

Michiru then rolled her eyes and huffed. "Well, can you keep it down? I have eighty-six subjects I need to be studying right now, and in the past hour, I've only studied about twenty-seven. I'm falling behind quickly. The last thing I need is your noisy gunplay distracting me."

Toko shrugged, about to pull the trigger on her gun again. Suddenly, a monitor up in the corner of the room turned on, to reveal Monokuma sitting down in a chair.

"I have an announcement to make!" Monokuma stated, crossing his arms. "Thanks to complaints, we will no longer be allowing the carrying of ammunition on your person during the daytime! Thank you!"

Before anyone could say anything else, the screen turned off. Michiru gave a sigh of relief. "Thank _god_."

Toko sighed as they reached into their pockets, pulling out two large, rectangular boxes of bullets. "Great. I guess I'll be back." Without saying anything else, Toko ran off, dashing aback to the train.

Michiru sighed, pushing her glasses back up. "Oh, Kanon..." she muttered, sitting down and looking out the window. "Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person here who's just... sort of ordinary," she said to me, lying down and looking up at the ceiling. "I could probably get some of my studies done here. It's a nice place." She told me, seeming to forget about the previous statement about considering herself mostly ordinary. Of course, I didn't quite believe that. If Masaki was to be believed, Michiru was able to do anything all of us were. If anything, she was the _least_ ordinary out of any of us.

"But Michiru, you're the Ultimate Scholar! What makes you think you're ordinary-?" I asked, but before I could finish my question, she gave an obviously faked cough.

"We're on a different subject now, Kanon," she interrupted me. "I humbly request that you allow me to catch up on my studies for now. If I have any time, we may converse later."

I sighed, walking out of the canal room as I let Michiru sit there and study. Back in the main garden room of the station, I saw another doorway to my right, and behind the still-reading Azizah. Making my way past the Ultimate Electrician, I walked to the doorway on the right, and found myself in a blindingly bright room, with transparent walls and ceiling. This room had significantly less trees, only a large bush in the corner and three bonsai trees planted in a triangle, and in the middle of the three trees stood a large, stone circle hued with a faded bronze color, etched with a compass inside the circle and a metallic beam angled upward at 45 degrees sticking out in the center. Roman numerals were etched around the outside, in clockwise order: VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XII, I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX. A shadow was being cast from the beam in the center, in between the IV and the V. It took me some time to figure out, but I soon realized that it was a sundial.

"Oh, hey Kanon!" I heard a baritone, nasal voice from behind. I turned around to see Rai standing behind me, holding a black, metallic briefcase in his right hand. "I see you've found the sun room."

The sun room? Well, it would explain the large sundial.

Rai set his briefcase down and looked up at the ceiling. "Yep, not a single cloud to be seen. Just as predicted." He sat down on the sundial and stretched his arms out. "Honestly, I needed some fresh air and free time outside of the train. Hikooki is honestly a nice guy, but _man_ he's depressing!"

I chuckled a bit at Rai's statement. He was absolutely correct. Even though I might have talked to Hikooki only once, it was still true that just talking to him seemed to suck the energy out of the room. Rai was definitely an upbeat individual though, even if he went on about meteorology way too long for anyone else's patience. "So, uh..." I tried to think of a conversation topic not directly related to meteorology. "What's in the briefcase?" I asked him.

Rai gave a forced, nervous half-smile as he turned away, not answering my question immediately. "Well, uh..." He chuckled a bit before rushing back to his briefcase and picking it back up. "Don't take this the wrong way, Kanon, but, well... I can't tell you." He murmured, before bowing in my direction. He cleared his throat and took a moment to adjust his tie, then fixed his glasses a bit. "S-sorry, I guess I'm not really the best at social interaction."

I smiled at Rai, giggling a bit at him. There was a sort of geeky, awkward cuteness about him that I liked quite a bit, even if I didn't really like to listen to him rave about meteorology all day.

Before I could say anything to Rai, we heard loud voice screaming, "Spirits, tell me how to harness the omnipresent energy of the sun!". The two of us jumped upon hearing that, though Rai was visibly a little more shaken up than I was.

I laughed a little bit, seeing Rai's red face and maladjusted glasses, which he rushed to readjust immediately.

"H-hey, don't laugh at me!" Rai nervously told me. He turned away, still flushed.

"Why don't we go check behind the bush in the corner?" I suggested, trying to get his mind off of the subject. I had a feeling that he knew just as well as I did who was there, but I still wanted to see what was going on.

I pushed back the leaves and branches of the shrub, and peered behind the plant. Rai looked over my shoulder as well. Behind the bush, to no one's surprise, was Aiko, sitting in the middle of a pentagram surrounded by a circle drawn with red chalk. Three purple candles lit with an ominous blue flame stood at three different points of the circle, forming a triangular shape around Aiko. As soon as we spotted her, Aiko turned around and jumped, flailing about before she turned a beet-red.

"Hey!" Aiko shouted at us, before turning away and hunching over. "Don't scare the spirits away!"

Rai chuckled a bit, scratching his head. "It's kinda cute how she really thinks she's invoking spirits like that."

Cute? To me, Aiko seemed like the last person who would be considered conventionally "cute". She had ratty hair, her mouth always seemed to be fixed in an eerie grin, and her eyes were a deep red and bloodshot. Even her irises were a blood red! Was that even possible? In what universe could Aiko be considered "cute"?!

"You... think she's cute...?" I whispered to Rai, trying not to focus on him or Aiko. "A-anyway, I probably should be headed out of here... I'll leave Aiko to do whatever it was she was doing." Before I could give Rai or Aiko the chance to say anything else, I bolted from the scene and ran out of the sun room right away.

Trying not to think about Rai or Aiko, I hurried back to the middle station. I wondered if Masaki was still there? Before I could have an actual answer to that question, though, I bumped into a tall, marble statue carved in the shape of Monokuma, standing tall and crossing his arms. I stepped back, a bit intimidated by the imposing statue.

"So the statue makes you uncomfortable too?" asked a familiar voice from behind me. I turned around to see Hikooki, with his arms crossed and staring down the statue. "Gotta admit, that statue is creepy as all hell. It's like he's saying 'I'm your god now' or some shit like that. Gives me the creeps."

I nodded, agreeing with Hikooki as he said that. I looked at the statue's ugly, haunting face as I backed away a bit. I didn't want to spend too much time here with Hikooki, as I figured I would more than likely become depressed just by listening to him.

"This place would be awesome for a movie!" I heard Tomoe call out from our right side. She walked up to us, and put her hands at her sides as she grinned at the statue. "Kinda gives it a dystopian feel, y'know? Like one of those young adult novels that become movies. I bet I could direct a really good one, if someone wrote a nice script."

Tomoe scratched her chin, and I backed away a bit. There was something the slightest bit unsettling about the way she was so happy about the statue. Though, I doubted there was anything too wrong with her.

"Ah, it appears that you are afflicted with an overlying fear, or anxiety. Do you suffer from depression or anxiety? It appears that you do." I heard a voice behind the three of us. We all turned around to see Sen, holding a yellow file folder in his gloved hands.

I tilted my head at Sen. I didn't necessarily believe I suffered from depression or anxiety, but I wasn't exactly quick to disregard the idea entirely. "Um... I'm not sure..." I whispered to Sen. It didn't take a genius to figure out that I wasn't super comfortable around the Monokuma statue, but at the same time, part of me was genuinely curious about whether Sen could diagnose me at a distance, similar to Rai's ability to predict the weather months ahead.

"Egad!" Sen shouted, flailing his arms about and stepping backward. "How have you not had a thorough diagnosis yet? Your mind could be in jeopardy as we _speak_! Well, you're a photographer, right?"

"Well, I'm more of a photojournalist, really-"

"Then it's settled!" Sen interrupted me before I could finish. "Why don't you snap a picture of that statue? That way, you can face your fears at any moment, and it will be a reminder of how there are bigger and scarier things in life, always."

I looked down at the ground, and then at my camera, and then back at Sen. It made a little bit of sense, honestly. Although part of me thought that since he was a doctor, Sen would be better suited for physical ordeals. At the same time, what kind of Ultimate would he be if he wasn't qualified to take on mental health issues as well? I sighed and snapped a picture of the Monokuma statue, and Sen nodded in return.

"Look, I'm going back into the train," Hikooki announced. Hikooki, now _that_ was a person Sen would have to diagnose and help out. The guy seemed to drain all the happiness out of the room with his presence alone. Just like that, Hikooki disappeared.

"Hey Sen!" called Tomoe. Sen turned his head toward the Ultimate Film Director.

"Hmm?" He asked, opening up his folder and flipping through the files.

"Is there an official name for film addiction?" she asked him.

Sen scratched his head for a few seconds before speaking up. "The official term is 'Filmomania', or, if it becomes sexual, 'Filmophilia'." He replied. Tomoe chuckled in response, giving a side-grin.

"Interesting," she replied. "Filmomania sounds like the name of a movie to direct! We gotta get a script written on that, stat!" she called out before running back toward the train. Feeling that I had explored the area just enough already, I decided to head back to the train myself.

Sen stayed behind as I made my way back to the train. No one was inside the main car, but I noticed a familiar group of faces in the food car - Kaemon, Saeko, Shiro, Hikooki, Ryo, Lorenzo, Hideki, and Utamuro. Each of them were sitting at the table, with plates filled to the brim with food.

"Oh, hello Kanon!" Lorenzo called out to me. "Why don't you take a seat? We're discussing something I believe to be rather important at the moment."

I took a seat between Lorenzo and Saeko, who was seated next to Utamuro. Across from us sat Shiro, Ryo, and Kaemon, and Hideki and Hikooki sat at the end.

"What's going on?" I asked Lorenzo.

"We're having a group meeting!" Saeko replied, smiling wide. "Lorenzo decided to hold a group discussion."

Utamuro nodded. "Yep. We're just trying to figure things out, that's all. We wonder if there's a way to get out of this without having to kill anyone."

Hideki chuckled at Utamuro's statement. "That's funny, kid. Like anyone's gonna kill _anyone_ under my watch. That's just not possible. Nothing slips past my eyes."

Saeko's eyes lit up at Hideki's claim. "Do _you_ have a photographic memory too, Hideki?" she asked. "I _never_ lose anything in my collection, because I just feel it all, wherever I go? If someone were to touch anything without my permission, I'd unleash hell on them!"

"Hey, I get the same way with my cameras!" I replied to Saeko. "Looks like we have something in common!" I probably shouldn't have said that though, because immediately she squeezed me tightly. If she were any strong at all, she would have snapped my back in two.

Hideki glared at Saeko and I. "A- _hem_. I was _talking_ to you."

Hikooki sighed at Hideki's statement. "What are we even doing? It's not like anyone listens to authority these days."

Hideki laughed in return. "They do if you scare 'em right!"

"Hey!" Lorenzo called out, slamming his hands on the table. "I called this meeting because we need to figure out if there's a way out of here that doesn't involve killing others! Bribing Monokuma didn't work, so that's out. Ryo, Hideki, are either of you strong enough to break those windows?"

Ryo shrugged. "And risk breaking my hands? That would hurt. What good is a basketball player with a broken hand?"

Hideki sighed. "Didn't Monokuma already say that trying to get out of here is against the rules? I'm not even gonna try to chance it."

Lorenzo sighed, sitting back down. "Man, you really are a killjoy, Hideki. Always a stickler for the rules."

Hideki chuckled again. "Look, kid, I don't make the rules. I just enforce 'em."

"Alright, we're clearly getting nowhere," I spoke up. Everyone turned toward me, and quieted down. "We need to think of something else. Does anyone know how we even got here in the first place?"

Everyone took a deep breath. The place was silent for a few seconds, before Shiro spoke up.

"I know that different types of benzodiazepines can cause memory loss, but the idea that all of us just got collectively drugged at once seems rather silly, if you ask me." They stated, tapping their fingers on the table.

"All I can remember is going into the school, and then somehow I was on this train," Utamuro spoke up. I nodded in response, as that was how I got here too. Everyone seemed to agree with Utamuro's notion, nodding and speaking amongst themselves.

"I see we have a meeting in session," called a voice not currently at the table. We all turned around to see Michiru, still holding that book in her arm. "Everyone, allow me."

Lorenzo sighed. "What do you know about group meetings that you specifically think _I_ don't?"

Michiru simply pushed her glasses back up as she took a seat at the other end of the table. "I got everyone to shut up for a minute, didn't I?"

Lorenzo just gave an irritated "tch!" as he turned away.

"Um, Rakuyama-san, what ideas do you have?" asked Saeko.

Michiru set her book down onto the table. "Listen up. Monokuma's own rules aren't enough. What we need to do is make sure no one kills anyone else. We can ensure this by setting our own ground rules. First, I'd like to propose that every morning, we meet up here, at this table, every morning."

"Sounds reasonable to me," replied Shiro. "I'm usually up early to do some work anyway."

"Same!" Ryo called out. "Gotta get my morning routine in!"

"So that settles that," Michiru noted.

Kaemon rolled his eyes and slumped back. "I'm not sure, I do livestreams really really late. I don't think I'll even have the time to get up early."

Michiru glared at Kaemon. "Don't make me have to think of a punishment for breaking the rules."

Hideki grinned as he pulled his baton from his belt and smacked his palm. "I've got a few ideas,"

Ryo glared at Hideki. "I'm going to mess you up real badly if you even entertain that idea any longer."

"Anyway!" Lorenzo called out, trying to get everyone's attention again. "We've got a meeting here."

We spent the next few hours bickering amongst each other, and the rest of the students came in and argued with us. We weren't able to figure anything out, though - and that's when the monitor turned on again.

"Attention class!" Monokuma announced. "It is now nighttime!"

As Monokuma announced that, a metal sheet folded over the windows of the hotel room and the station. "Everyone, follow the arrows to your right, and keep going until you reach your rooms!"

We made our way through the different cars, until we found our bedrooms. The rooms on the top floor belonged to, in order, Utamuro, Amy-chan, Kenji, me, Masaki, Guadalupe, Hikooki, Asa, Toko, Kaemon, Saeko, and Daquan. The rooms on the bottom floor belonged to, in order, Aiko, Lorenzo, Shiro, Yuki, Ryo, Tame, Rai, Tomoe, Sen, Michiru, Hideki, and Azizah.

"Now, remember," Michiru began. "Everyone is to meet up in the dining area tomorrow morning! Anyone who is not there will be considered _dead_."

We all nodded in agreement as we went into our respective rooms. I opened my door and saw... well, I guess I shouldn't have expected much. It was nothing more than a compact room with a single bed in the corner, and several shelves loaded with cameras. My jaw dropped as I eyed every single camera in the room in awe - vintage and modern cameras, each of them I had to try out at some point! I yawned, and put my camera down as I unbuttoned my shirt and slid my skirt down, then changed into my pajamas and laid down in bed.

I sighed, hoping that I wouldn't be the victim of a killing that night. We all agreed that no one would kill, didn't we? I couldn't be bothered to ask myself any longer, though, as my eyes felt so heavy that they closed themselves, and I drifted off into a deep slumber.


	3. Chapter 1: Motive

I woke up the next morning from an awfully strange dream. All I could remember about it was being in a room full of Monokumas, and we were in a theater watching Monokuma give a speech about something called "Danganronpa: Despair Never Dies", whatever that was. It sounded like the name of a terrible fanfiction. I couldn't remember much else, though.

I rolled over in my bed, and reached out for my phone upon the nightstand. The time was 6:58 am, and morning was almost here. I was awfully worried that I would come across a dead body. What if it was Masaki? I shook my head around, trying to shake that feeling. There was absolutely no way someone would commit murder right now, right? None of us had the capacity to do such a thing. If anything, we were all going to find a way off of this wretched train and beat Monokuma's sadistic little game.

Right?

Before I had the chance to ponder about this little game any longer, Monokuma's smug face appeared on the monitor in the corner of my room. He was sitting down in his chair and was holding a glass filled with water in his hand. "Good morning, students!" Monokuma called out to us. I gave a yawn as Monokuma's image on the monitor disappeared, and then I jolted awake as I suddenly remembered. We were all supposed to meet up every morning to see if everyone was okay. I knew that I would raise some suspicions of I was not there.

I hurried to dress myself up again, frantically buttoning up my shirt and sliding my skirt on as I stepped into my shoes. I opened up my desk drawer and pulled out my favorite camera. I had completely forgotten to take any pictures yesterday, but I knew I would have plenty of opportunities to do so much later. If I made it out of this twisted game alive, I knew I would have quite the story to write about it. An editorial like this would certainly catch the attention of important figures in news media everywhere.

Trying not to sidetrack myself from the morning meeting, I rushed out my door, and in my haste, I almost bumped into Masaki, who was just to my left and seemed to have just left his room. I immediately blushed and almost lost my balance, trying to regain my composure. My heart beat as soon as I made eye contact with him, staring into his warm gray-blue eyes and gazing upon his rugged smile.

"O-oh, good morning, Masaki!" I greeted him, trying not to seem as flustered externally as I was internally. "Y-you just getting up too?"

Masaki shrugged and tilted his head at me. "Good morning to you too, Kanon." My heart skipped a beat as he said my name aloud. I couldn't help from giggling a bit in response, to which he gave a soft chuckle himself. "Yeah, just going to the morning meeting like we all agreed to last night." I nodded, being at a loss for words at this point. What was I supposed to say? I could barely even open my mouth without thinking of something he might misinterpret. I didn't want him to think I _liked_ him. First I needed to win him over, and so far it seemed like he had better things to say about the other girls than he did me. "So, Kanon, wanna walk to the food car with me? I can understand if you'd rather go alone."

Instantly my heart stopped and I felt like I would fall over onto my face. Was Masaki asking me if I wanted to walk with him?! The butterflies were starting to take over as my brain overloaded with ideas for responses. "Uh... y-yeah, sure!" I replied, trying to keep my cool around him. Awkward as I was, though, he could probably read me like a newspaper article.

He gave a sort of half-smile as he tilted his head left, toward the food car. The two of us walked side-by-side, but I remained silent. _What am I supposed to say now?_ I asked myself, trying to come up with a good conversation topic. I twiddled my fingers a bit as the two of us just kept walking. How could Masaki just remain so cool about this? Was I not attractive or charismatic enough? Was he just blissfully unaware of my own nervousness? Or was he just that good at masking his own insecurities? Damn, I really needed to learn from him.

"Man, I really hope no one died," Masaki stated after a few minutes of awkward silence. That's when it all clicked in for me again - there was the possibility that someone died overnight. I really hoped that wasn't the case, though. I took in a deep breath and gulped, trying to keep my mind off of the fact that many of us may as well die here and now.

The two of us made our way to the food car. I noticed this time that in addition to the two tables situated next to either wall there was a third, shorter table in front of the exit on the other side of the room. Ryo and Saeko were sitting at the leftmost table, Hideki was sitting at the back table, and the rightmost table was empty. Masaki and I took a seat at the empty table. I looked back at the front of the room to see that Michiru was standing at the entrance, holding a clipboard with a sheet of paper on it. She pushed her glasses up as she wrote something down.

"Good morning to you, Masaki Domoto and Kanon Amari." Michiru greeted us, not taking her eyes off of the clipboard. "It appears that everyone else is asleep, or on their ways here..." she then muttered something indistinct under her breath as she continued scribbling whatever it was she was writing down.

"Kanon! Masaki!" Ryo greeted us with a wide smile spread across his face. Despite it being the early hours of the morning, Ryo seemed to have plenty of energy. Must be the hard work of an athlete. "You guys sleep well?"

I gave a nervous chuckle, and shrugged. I didn't really have much trouble falling asleep last night, as the day tired me out. That said, besides the surreal dream involving the Monokumas, I didn't quite remember much of my sleep. Maybe that was an indicator of a good night's sleep? I wasn't quite sure.

Masaki leaned back in his chair and just gave a subtle shrug. "Kinda, I guess. Better than sleeping on the floor, that's for sure," He replied.

Hideki sneered at Masaki as he finished his sentence. Masaki rolled his eyes in response, and promptly ignored Hideki.

"Ryo, do you have a basketball collection?" I heard Saeko ask Ryo. He gave a quick chuckle.

"Yeah, I do!" he replied. "They're not for playing with, though."

Saeko's eyes lit up as soon as Ryo finished that sentence. "That's awesome! I admire anyone who can keep up a collection for so long!" she cooed, her eyes glimmering at Ryo. "I have two very rare basketballs myself, if you'd ever like to see them..." she mused in a sultry voice. Ryo raised his eyebrow in response, and then just chuckled.

"Are they signed basketballs?" he asked her. "Those are worth even more."

Saeko winked at him and tilted her head up, before giving a suggestive "Maaaaayyybeeeee~. I'll even let you touch 'em, if your hands are clean enough."

Michiru raised an eyebrow at Saeko and sighed. "Basketballs, Saeko? Really? All the euphemisms in the world, and you decided to go with "basketballs"?"

"Euphemisms?" Ryo and Saeko asked at once. They both looked at each other, and then at Michiru. Masaki and I looked at each other, and just shrugged.

"Wh-what? I'm just talking about basketballs!" Saeko defended herself. "You know, the big, round, bouncy ones?"

I leaned back, suddenly understanding what Michiru was talking about. Saeko sure had a weird idea of seduction. Especially at seven in the morning...

"Yeah, I don't see what the big deal is." Ryo stated.

"Hey, kid." Hideki began. "What kinda "basketballs" do you think she's talkin' about?"

"I'm just talking about normal basketballs! They're part of my big collection!" Saeko continued to defend herself, getting beet-red in the face. It didn't look like she was doing herself any favors here...

"Hey, leave them alone!" Masaki interrupted them. "Just let them discuss whatever without butting into their conversations."

Michiru pushed her glasses up and cleared her throat. "Ahem... my apologies, Saeko. I never really... thought about it, but I suppose it is entirely possible you were referring to... actual basketballs. Just... don't speak with that sort of voice when you discuss said basketballs."

Saeko puffed her cheeks out and crossed her arms. "If I were talking about that, I would have said so..." she muttered.

After a few awkward seconds, Lorenzo and Yuki were the next to enter. Lorenzo was dressed in his suit from yesterday, ironed to perfection with nary a hair or wrinkle to be seen. Yuki, on the other hand, was in a gray tank top and gym shorts, sort of like she had been wearing pajamas. Her snow white hair was a mess of knots and tangles, and a pair of dark circles formed underneath her eyes. She wore a tired, neutral expression as she propped herself right next to me, and Lorenzo sat across from us.

"Morning!" Lorenzo called out, waving to us as he gave a wide, beaming smile. His teeth glimmered and shone, being almost blinding to the eyes. What kind of toothpaste did he even use?

Yuki took the seat right next to Lorenzo, and rested her head on the table. She mumbled something indistinct as she closed her eyes, about to drift off to sleep again.

"Yuki!" Michiru snapped. Yuki's eyes twitched as she lifted her head up.

"Leave me alone..." she yawned. I guess she wasn't so fiery when she was tired.

"Heh... Miss Yuki here is a bit tuckered out from last night." Lorenzo stated to us as Yuki's head swayed back and forth.

"I kinda figured." I replied, trying not to focus too much on Yuki. Who knew what she was even capable of when she was angry? She was tiny, but anyone able to win a snowboarding competition with a broken leg was worthy of respect in my book.

Lorenzo then nudged Yuki a bit, giving her a short smile. "Hey, why are you sweating, anyway? It's only like 70 degrees in here."

Yuki puffed her cheeks out and glared at Lorenzo as he finished his sentence. "It's way too freakin' hot, okay?" she replied, groaning at him. "Now leave me the hell alone, 'kay?"

I turned to Masaki, who just gave me a shrug. "I dunno, she seemed a lot less hostile last night. It wasn't even that hot last night..."

The next ones to arrive were Daquan, Guadalupe, Hikooki, and Kaemon. Daquan and Guadalupe looked bright and ready for the day, while Hikooki looked like his usual gloomy self while Kaemon, like Yuki, looked tired and sleep-deprived.

"Good morning, Daquan, Guadalupe, Hikooki, Kaemon," Michiru greeted each of them. "Good to know you are all still here."

"No shit," Kaemon snapped at Michiru. "Why are we here? I stopped in the middle of my stream for this."

Michiru rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated huff. "Just making sure everyone is alive and well..." she replied, scribbling down everyone's names.

Kaemon sat next to Hideki, while Daquan sat between Saeko and Ryo. Guadalupe took her seat next to Yuki while Hikooki sat in the corner, distanced from everyone else.

"Morning!" Guadalupe called out to each of us, beaming wide. She held a plastic water bottle in her right hand. "Kanon, Masaki, you two look ready and raring to go! Figure it's gonna be a good day, huh?"

"Y-yeah!" I replied to Guadalupe. I enjoyed talking to her, as she was always so upbeat and positive. Still, it amazed me how anyone could have so much energy so early in the morning. Yuki and Ryo certainly didn't, and they were athletes as well.

Masaki chuckled at Guadalupe and clasped his hands. "I guess I'm just ready for anything, really. Kinda what being a thief is all about."

Hideki grinned at Masaki after he finished his sentence. "Y'know, kid, you really remind me of a famous thief I keep hearin' about. But I wouldn't worry too much. I feel like he'd be taller than you."

Masaki shrugged and leaned back in his chair, not paying much mind to Hideki. Honestly, it was always just so fascinating how every situation which came his way, he would remain cool and collected about.

The next ones to arrive were Toko, Rai, and Sen. Toko strutted inside and pointed both of their guns into the air, flashing a wide grin.

"Hate to ruin the fun, but the show's over!" Toko shouted out. My heart skipped a beat as I jumped in panic, along with seemingly everyone else. Except for Masaki, who remained with that unfazed expression on his face.

"Don't worry, guys. They didn't load those guns." Masaki reassured everyone. "The rule about ammunition, remember?"

Everyone gave a collective "phew!" as Toko took their seat next to Saeko and Daquan.

"Man, you gotta stop scaring everyone like that!" Saeko nervously laughed. "You almost had me on the ropes a second ago!"

Daquan chuckled too, leaning back as if nothing had happened. "Just don't go too overboard with it next time!"

Rai took his seat between Masaki and Hikooki. Immediately Hikooki turned to face him as the two began a conversation about the weather, or something to that effect. Sen took his seat in the corner between Ryo and Kaemon, and immediately began scribbling something down on a sheet of paper, without saying much.

 _That guy is so quiet..._ I thought to myself. Perhaps he was just more introverted, but he was even quieter than Hikooki and Tame. Perhaps he just felt lonely?

"Hey, Sen?" I called out to him. He was still fixated on that paper. Kaemon looked over at him, trying to sneak a glance at that paper. Sen immediately shielded it with his other arm, blocking Kaemon's view.

"Oh, uh." Sen then looked up at me and cleared his throat. "Pardon me, Kanon, I'm just quite busy at the moment. See, as a doctor, I don't get an especially large amount of downtime." He continued scribbling on that paper, without even allowing me to say anything else.

 _Well, that was kind of rude..._

Kenji, Aiko, Tomoe, Utamuro, and Azizah were the next to arrive. Kenji sat across from Saeko, and promptly opened up a book he was reading. Aiko sat next to Yuki, diagonal to Rai.

"So that's why the cumulonimbus-" I heard Rai rambling to Hikooki. As soon as Aiko sat down across from him, Rai stammered over his words and pushed his glasses upward, taking a minute to catch his composure. There was definitely something adorable about his geeky and awkward nature, it just... was still jarring that he was interested in Aiko.

"Dark Lady Aiko Amane has awakened from her deep slumber!" Aiko called out, clasping her hands over the table as she gave a soft grin. "Is there anyone who would like to have a meeting with me? We can discuss how we are going to survive in an environment such as this."

Rai instantly jumped as she finished that sentence. "O-oh, I'd love to! I, uh... I'm pretty free today!"

Hikooki sighed and raised an eyebrow. "I dunno... it seems a little shady to me." He replied to Aiko.

Aiko just shrugged, and then focused her attention on Rai. "I look forward... to seeing you." she replied, raising an eyebrow and widening her grin. Rai's face flushed with a beet red as he turned to Masaki and I.

"Guys... she talked to me! She actually talked to me! This never happens!" Rai whispered, his eyes lighting up with a sort of excitement. I smiled in return.

"Great!" I replied to him. On the inside, I was a bit irritated that he thought that Aiko was the first to actually talk to him, even though I had talked to him too, just the day before. What was he even going on about?

Tomoe took her seat at the back table, somewhere between Hideki and Hikooki. "So, what're we all gathered here for?" Tomoe asked, putting her feet up on the table. "Aside from the fact that all of us gathered up here makes for a scene picturesque enough for a film."

Michiru sighed again. "Tomoe, didn't I tell you all last night? We're all gathered here right now because we need to keep track of everyone. If we're all here, we're all alive. Does that make sense?"

Tomoe shrugged and poured some lemonade from a glass pitcher into a clear glass, which she proceeded to drink from. "Sure, somethin' like that."

Utamuro took a seat between Lorenzo and Yuki, and took a minute to adjust his top hat. "Sorry, but a fashion designer like myself needs his beauty sleep." He informed us all.

"Don't you think that's kinda girly?" Hideki asked him.

Utamuro side-eyed Hideki. "Yeah, I heard your girlfriend is into men in touch with their feminine sides." He replied, grinning at Hideki.

Hideki tried to say something back, but gave up before he could think of anything.

Then, Azizah sat down next to me. "Morning, Kanon!" Azizah greeted me, flashing a big smile on her face. "You ready for the day?"

I chuckled a bit, giving a sort of half-smile. "Yeah, kinda."

"Good!" she replied. "Anyway, I can't stay long, there's something I must do before it's too late today." Azizah announced.

Michiru raised an eyebrow at Azizah before taking the time to write down whatever it was she was writing. "Hmm? Well, I already got your name down, but I think it would be best for you to wait for everyone else. I'm sure this meeting won't take too much longer."

Azizah bowed her head down and muttered something indistinct, supposedly in a language I couldn't understand.

"Hey, if you're gonna pray, don't do it in front of me, 'kay?" Kaemon shouted out. Everyone turned toward him and glared, with the exception of Azizah. "What?"

Azizah took a deep breath and looked up. "No, I wasn't praying," she clarified. "I was just talking to myself, that's all. I don't pray when I'm in big groups, unless I'm worried about something."

Kaemon rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Your God isn't real. There, I just saved you hours of your li-"

Before Kaemon could finish his sentence, Ryo smacked him on the back of the head. His glasses fell off and onto the table.

"Hey!" Kaemon shouted at him. "Am I not allowed to speak the truth?"

"Shut the fuck up." Ryo snapped at him.

Kaemon mumbled something indistinct as Kenji looked back at him and glared. "Are you quite finished yet?"

In the midst of all this, Asa, Shiro, and Tame entered the room. Without so much as a word, Tame took a seat right next to Kenji as the two sat together in silence, just like before.

"Good morning, everyone!" Asa greeted everyone in the room. She wore a big smile on her face as she brought in a large bag full of yellow sugar cookies. "Sorry I'm late, I was making cookies!"

"Heh... don'tcha think that coulda waited?" Lorenzo asked her. "But hey, I like cookies, so you get a free pass from me."

Guadalupe gave a chuckle. "Man, I could really go for some cookies right now! I mean, I'm supposed to be on a diet, but... rules are meant to be broken, who cares?"

"Uh huh..." Tame noted, beginning to doodle something in her sketchpad as per the usual.

Shiro then sat down across from Rai and next to Aiko. "Morning. Sorry, I'm not exactly a morning type of person."

"You and me both," Hikooki replied with a sigh.

"Well~." Aiko began, grinning in Shiro's direction. "If you'd like to improve yourself, and get better at dealing with the harsh rays of the morning sunlight, I would be more than happy to help you in that regard~."

Shiro sighed at Aiko. "I'm not interested," they replied. "Is it something to do with what you believe to be magic?"

"I can do that too, but no, this doesn't involve any sort of real magic." Aiko replied to them. "Rai is joining me for a meeting today, if you'd like to come along as well."

Instantly I noticed Rai tense up for a moment, before Shiro side-eyed Aiko and just gave a stern "No.". Rai breathed a sigh of relief at that moment.

"Hmm, suit yourself." Aiko replied.

Ignoring Aiko, Shiro turned their head toward Michiru. "Hey, can we make this quick? I might have made a scientific breakthrough last night and I'd like to continue my research."

"Just wait until attendance is finished!" Michiru snapped at him. Suddenly, the room went very quiet as there was an awkward pause.

"Hey, uh... you alright?" asked Lorenzo, scratching his head.

Michiru took a deep breath and adjusted her glasses. "Yes, I'm... fine. Sorry, I just want to get this over with... and it seems Amy-chan isn't here yet."

That's when it sunk in again. What if... she was dead? No, there was just no way. No one here would kill anyone! Not even the suspicious ones like Sen or Aiko! We all knew better than to actually kill! Why, we would live out the rest of our days on this train before that! After all, it had everything we needed.

Before my thoughts could go into full swing, Amy-chan burst through the door, dressed in her flashy clothes and makeup. "Here I am!" she called out, doing a twirl and bringing all the attention of the room to herself. "Sorry, an idol has to be presentable at all times~!"

Michiru nodded, writing her name down. "Alright. Good news is, we're all alive, and now we have to make plans. So, does anyone have any ideas for getting out of here?"

Lorenzo raised his hand.

"Yes, Lorenzo?" Michiru called upon him.

"I'm actually totally cool with just staying here," He admitted. I sighed in relief, as I wasn't the only one thinking that.

"Wh-what?" Masaki called out. "But... don't you miss your family, your friends, your life?"

Lorenzo leaned back in his chair and shrugged. "I don't see what's so bad about the train life, honestly."

There was a short silence thereafter. Yes, it was nice aboard this train, and we would probably make good friends with each other, but we all had lives before coming here. After all, we were all Ultimates with promising futures and excellent talents. There had to be important people in our lives who missed us and wanted to see us again. Was Lorenzo seriously suggesting that... he was fine with not going back? His family must have been worried sick about him. If not, he must have had friends who missed him. Surely there was a life he had back home which he thought about periodically. The point was, there was simply no way any of us would be okay with just spending the rest of our lives here on the Monokuma Express.

Before Lorenzo could finish his thought, or someone else could speak up, the door burst open as Monokuma entered the room. As always, he was wearing that sadistic grin upon his horrible face.

"Upupu~," Monokuma chuckled as his red eye glowed with an eerie light. "I figured that someone would say something like that... after all, why commit murder to escape from a place anyone else would kill to live in?"

Lorenzo clapped his hands as his eyes lit up. "Yes! See, finally you say something I actually agree with. See guys? Monokuma understands us."

For some reason, I couldn't help but feel that perhaps Lorenzo was being naive, or idealistic. I didn't trust Monokuma for a second. There was simply no way there wasn't a catch to what he was about to say.

"Sit down and shut your mouth for a second!" Monokuma snapped. Lorenzo jumped, and sat back down, instantly going silent. The whole room got silent as Monokuma spoke. "But if you would like to survive, follow me into the computer room. If you're not in there within five minutes, you can consider yourself as good as dead."

Kaemon rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Yeah, like _you_ can actually do anything. You're all talk."

Monokuma turned his head toward Kaemon, and grinned widely as he dashed toward the Ultimate Game Livestreamer. Before Kaemon could even react, Monokuma swiped at him with his right paw, from which three sharp claws extended. Kaemon ducked down and held his arms over his head, gasping as Monokuma stopped himself right before he could strike Kaemon.

"Still think I'm all talk, kid?" Monokuma growled. Kaemon was gasping and quivering with an unwavering sense of fear, and he was unable to say anything in response. Everyone went silent and focused their attention on Monokuma, not daring to say a word. He then jumped back into the center of the room as he walked out, motioning for us to follow him.

We all got up and headed toward the computer room. Masaki walked right next to me, and nudged my shoulder.

"What?" I asked him, whispering. His face was fixated in front of us, not really looking in my direction.

"I'd be careful of Lorenzo," Masaki whispered to me. "Someone as carefree and naive as him... they don't stay that way. And once they change... boy, do they change."

Lorenzo walked up from behind us. "Hey, did Masaki just say my name?" Lorenzo asked. Masaki shrugged, not answering his question. I similarly stayed quiet, trying not to make Lorenzo feel targeted. "Hey, I asked you two a question! When I ask a question, I want an answer!"

After a few minutes of walking, we all walked into the computer room. Each monitor displayed a picture of one of us, indicating which computer seat we were supposed to sit at.

"Hey!" Kaemon called out. "This isn't the computer I sit-"

Monokuma turned to Kaemon and bared his claws one more, and Kaemon shut up instantly. "Now, just sit down, and put on those headphones."

Just then, we heard a J-pop song blaring from Tame's position.

"Yes, you too, Tame!" Monokuma shouted out. Tame sighed as she took off her headphones.

Each of us sat down in our assigned seats as we placed large, bulky headphones upon our heads. They were heavy and faded with a dark brown, like the ones used in the Nineties. I noticed that Masaki's seat was right next to mine, and Lorenzo's was on the other side.

"It'll be okay," Masaki told me, nodding at me. I gulped, afraid of what Monokuma would showcase to us.

"Nice, we get a cool train ride, _and_ a fun little video!" Lorenzo mused as he leaned backward.

"You ready?" Monokuma asked us.

"Yeah." Masaki replied, nodding.

"You betcha!" Lorenzo responded.

"Why not?" asked Michiru.

"Sure, whatever." Yuki muttered.

"Actually, I need to take a second to-" Amy-chan began, but before she could finish her thought, Monokuma pulled a remote control out of... seemingly nowhere, and pressed a big red button on the front. Suddenly, my computer screen flashed with a bright white light... and one would not _believe_ what I saw.

I saw a video of... myself. I was taking pictures at what appeared to be Hope's Peak Academy. I snapped photographs of the clouds, of birds, of a few students playing games. I was developing film and typing up stories to go along with the pictures. I could see myself writing the school's newsletter, and asking people questions. But that's when I saw Masaki. He approached me, standing outside the school's office and handing out copies of the newsletter. Although I couldn't hear what he was saying, I looked very pleased and happy talking to him, as he did talking to me. I wanted to turn to see what Masaki was viewing on his screen, but I couldn't take my eyes off of my own screen.

But... what exactly was this? When was this? How did Monokuma obtain this? Did any of this actually happen?

Before I could get an answer to that question, my computer screen shut off and the sound stopped.

"There we were, class!" Monokuma announced to all of us. "What was that, you ask? Oh... it's sort of just what your lives would be like right now had you never gone aboard this train."

A few of us gave a long gasp. Kaemon, Lorenzo, and Yuki in particular seemed the most shaken up.

"What?!" Lorenzo shouted out, red in the face and beginning to shake profusely. "No... I... I won't believe it!"

Monokuma snickered. "Upupu~... Weren't you the one talking about how much you actually like the train life?" He asked.

"N-not anymore!" Lorenzo shouted at him. "I... I want my life back!"

Not even taking the time to listen to Lorenzo, Monokuma dashed out of the room. We all sat there in silence for a few seconds, before the chaos began again."

"I need a way out of here!" Kaemon screamed. "I could be at home, all alone right now!"

Yuki shivered in her seat. "I could be out snowboarding! I can't be here any longer!"

"I want to be the writer of a newsletter!" I called out, giving in to the pressure myself. "I don't want to be here..." I whined.

Masaki patted me on the back. "It's okay, we'll find a way out... I promise."

I blushed as Masaki touched my back. His hands were just so... gentle. So caring.

"I want a massive audience!" complained Amy-chan. Tears were welling up in her eyes as she cried into a tissue.

Kenji closed his eyes and sat down, sighing. "I need to be in peace right now."

"Settle down!" Michiru commanded to all of us. All eyes in the room fixated upon her.

"Everyone, just remain calm! The most we can do is try and find a way out."

Tomoe shrugged and scoffed. "Look, we've already checked everywhere. There's no way outta this place."

Mihiru chuckled and gave a grin. "You're obviously thinking in only one dimension," Michiru stated, before showing us her clipboard. A detailed map of the train and the garden stop was present on the sheet of paper. "As you can see, most of the exits are blocked off... but with a little bit of prying, and perhaps learning Monokuma's true intentions, we can find a way out of this forsaken hell."

Aiko grinned. "But, why would we want to escape from hell?"

Shiro rolled their eyes. "Aiko, we're not _actually_ talking about hell..."

Hikooki sighed. "What's the point? Monokuma knows this place better than us. And it's not like my life is any better outside of this train than in it. I'm heading out." Before anyone could say another word, Hikooki exited the room.

"F-fine then!" Michiru snapped. "Everyone else who is interested in finding a way out, why don't you come with me? There's bound to be an exit somewhere around here."

Before Michiru could walk away, Amy-chan slowly began to raise her hand. "Umm... Michiru-chan?"

Michiru turned her head toward Amy-chan. "What is it?"

"Umm... well, Azizah, Asa, Daquan, and I were all planning to hold a big concert here... and as much as I'd like to get out too, I was thinking... do you think we can hold it off until after the concert?" she suggested.

"Yes, that's a perfect idea!" Azizah added onto that. "We'll be able to think more clearly if we're not stressed."

"Hey, my uncle Nelson always told me that! 'Always make time for yourself', he told me," Daquan stated, with a calm smile spreading across his face.

Michiru sighed, and then sat back down. "Fine... we'll focus on this later. Besides, a concert would bring us closer together. We need to make sure no one actually kills anyone else. It's harder to kill anyone when we're all together." she noted.

I nodded in response. As much as I wanted to get out of here, I didn't know how much use it would be trying to escape. And I loved Amy-chan's music, so there was no way I would miss this concert.

"Anyway," Michiru began, looking up at all of us. "Why don't we begin setting up for the concert? It may take us some time to begin. I'll help plan everything. Asa, Azizah, Daquan, you three know what to do. Amy-chan, why don't you begin rehearsing?"

Amy-chan grinned real wide. "Yes! I'll do that!"

Azizah, Daquan, and Asa all dashed to their stations immediately afterward.

"Well, everyone else, you all have some free time. I suggest finding something to do in this time. May as well get used to this." suggested Michiru.

I supposed she had a point. I had a little bit of free time.


	4. Chapter 1: Free Time Events

I looked around the computer room, and noticed that everyone had taken off to their respective stations. I knew Michiru, Daquan, Amy-chan, Azizah, and Asa would be busy all day, so I wouldn't be able to hang out with them. The only one still left in the room was Kaemon, who was now playing an action video game of sorts and talking over it, his voice echoing through the room quite loudly I might add.

"Yo welcome back, it's Nakamon347 here, and already we've got another subscriber! Thanks, uh... X-x-x-BloodyMoonlight666-x-x-X. Nice name, by the way." Kaemon basically shouted out. I couldn't stand listening to his annoying voice any longer and promptly exited the room. Perhaps now I would have time to hang out with Masaki? If I could find him, at least. He never did tell me exactly where he was headed for.

I walked out of the computer room, leaving Kaemon behind. I then went into the food room, and I saw Saeko and Toko eating from plates loaded with food. _How do they maintain their figures eating that much?_ I asked myself. They must have had incredible metabolism.

"Howdy, Kanon!" Toko called out to me, their mouth loaded with food and their voice being almost completely indistinguishable as a result. A few gold-brown crumbs scattered over their face.

"Chew with your mouth closed! That's gross!" Saeko reminded them. Despite her having a massive amount of food on her plate as well, she managed to keep her face and her side of the table clean. "Kanon, you gonna join us for a meal?" Saeko asked me. I looked around - I guess everyone else was out doing something else this day. While I certainly would have enjoyed spending more time with Saeko, the truth was that I could never be around Toko too long, mostly because they still unnerved me. What if one day, they were to pull a gun out and it... was loaded? There was no way I would allow myself to be a victim to that.

"Uh, no thanks," I replied as I walked out of the room, trying not to make eye contact with Toko. Saeko gave a sigh as I left for the scenic room, just to be anywhere else. I wondered if Masaki was in there? It seemed like the type of place he'd frequent.

As I made it to the scenic room, I noticed that at first, it seemed that I was alone in here. _Where is everyone else?_ I asked myself. I looked around, seeing if I could spot Masaki anywhere. That was, until I noticed in the rightmost corner that Lorenzo was sitting by himself. _What's he doing all alone?_ I asked myself. I figured he'd be hanging out with Utamuro right about now.

"Hey, Lorenzo?" I called out to him. Lorenzo turned his head to me, his face expressionless. He looked as if he had been spending quite a bit of time worrying about something, or that he was just bored and tired. There wasn't much way one couldn't be, with these early hours and such.

"Oh, hello, Kanon." Lorenzo called back. He gave a sigh as I approached.

I tilted my head at the Ultimate Entrepreneur. "What's wrong?" I asked him.

Lorenzo just shrugged and leaned his head back, as I sat across from him at the other seat. "I dunno, I guess I'm just... worried."

Well, I certainly didn't want to just leave Lorenzo hanging like this. I figured I would go seek out Masaki later. I was bound to run into him at some point, wasn't I?

"What are you worried about?" I asked him.

Lorenzo sighed again. "It's my business. See, without me to run it right now, I'm just... worried about whose hands it's in. I've spent years making clever marketing strategies in order to keep my business afloat, and the last thing I need is for it to be taken over by dirty communists-" His voice started to tremble as he approached the end of that sentence, but then he stopped himself and sighed. "Sorry, I don't wanna ramble too long. Anyway... what brings you here to talk with Mister Lorenzo Ricci himself?" His face suddenly shifted dramatically as he raised an eyebrow and gave a confident grin in my direction. What was going on?

"Uh, Lorenzo?" I asked him. He wasn't flirting with me, was he?

"What is it? Clearly something must have driven you here for you to have chosen to hang out with myself. Could it be because I am a clever businessman? Or because I am rich? Or is it my sense of style that brought you here? They say the clothes make the man." Lorenzo mused in a flirtations manner, seeming to look at me up and down. Truth be told, I wasn't really too into this. Lorenzo was trying way too hard to impress me, and I could just sense it.

I gave an awkward chuckle, turning my head away from him for a second. "Lorenzo, you're not trying to flirt with me, are you? Because it's not really working."

Lorenzo gave a nervous chuckle as he pulled on his tie a bit. "Sorry 'bout that, I guess my methods don't really work on you. How about we make up for it over dinner tonight?" He asked me.

I sighed again. "Lorenzo, please, I'm not interested in you like this."

He clicked his tongue and then clasped his hands as he looked up at me again. "Alright, if you won't respond to my advances... then I have to ask you about someone else."

Someone else? I barely knew anyone here! His methods didn't sound like they'd work on anyone.

"Who exactly... are you talking about?" I asked him.

Lorenzo chuckled a bit and looked down. "You, uh... you promise not to tell anyone?" He asked me, his face suddenly flushing red.

I shrugged. "Of course." I replied. Truth be told, I was probably going to forget about it anyway, or not really care.

Lorenzo sighed. "M-Michiru," He replied. I gasped a bit as a smile spread across my face. The smartest, most talented student aboard this train, and definitely one of the most attractive as well. It didn't exactly come as a surprise to me that he had a crush on Michiru.

"Aw, that's kind of cute," I replied. "But, if someone like me wasn't impressed with your advances, what makes you think she will be?"

Lorenzo chuckled again, and then shrugged. "Not sure, I haven't figured that out yet. I'm hoping money will be enough to make her fall for me."

Money? Was Lorenzo really this desperate?

I chuckled a little and then cleared my throat. "Why don't you actually try and get to know her a bit? Talk to her about things she might like? Learn more about her. I'm sure Michiru would appreciate it if you actually took interest in her."

Lorenzo sighed, and then looked up at me with a smile. "Thanks, Kanon," he thanked me. "You know, you're pretty cool. You're really nice, cute, and I'm sure you're not a communist. You're not, right?" He asked me.

I shrugged. "I don't know economics very well, but I-" I realized he was flirting with me again, and I just rolled my eyes. "Oh, you almost had me with those compliments there! Try that on Michiru."

"Right!" Lorenzo answered as he suddenly got up and dashed away. Something told me he was going to screw this up. Regardless, I noticed that I still had quite a bit of time left, and Masaki had to be around somewhere.

I walked away from the scenic room, and up toward the middle room. I began walking toward all our rooms, hoping I'd come across Masaki. Just as I entered the gym room on my way there, Guadalupe almost bumped into me. She was sweating from her forehead and on her clothing, and a white towel was draped over her shoulders. She was carrying a bottle of water in her right hand too.

"Oh, hey Kanon!" Guadalupe greeted me as she drank from her water bottle. "Where you going?"

I turned away for a second, not wanting to admit that I wanted to meet up with Masaki later. What if she thought I liked him? That would be embarrassing...

"I'm, uh... just taking a walk, I guess." I replied. "Just passing time before Amy-chan's concert."

Guadalupe nodded and leaned against the wall. "Yuki's probably out right now, and it seems most everyone else is busy. Wanna hang out for a little?"

I shrugged. I didn't yet know Guadalupe too well, and she seemed like someone who might be fun to hang out with. "Well, sure!" I replied. I didn't quite know what else to say.

"Nice!" Guadalupe cheered as she set her sweat rag down onto the ground. "Hey, if you're going ot hang out with me, you wanna maybe set up a training routine for the two of us? Yuki can't really afford to exercise in the train, so having a partner would be awesome!"

I gave a sheepish smile as Guadalupe proposed the idea of a training routine. Even though I got out quite a bit and would spend a lot of my days walking, I still wasn't exactly the most physically fit person around. Alongside someone athletic like Guadalupe, there was just no way I would even compare. "I don't know... I'm not really that athletic." I replied.

Guadalupe chuckled a bit before getting onto the treadmill, and pressing a few buttons as she began to run. "Silly Kanon, that's the point! It's to help you become more athletic!" she encouraged me. Well, I certainly wouldn't want ot be rude to her, even if I hadn't the slightest clue how to get my body in shape. Running for even fifteen seconds would have me sweating and on my knees, so I had no idea what Guadalupe's plans were. "So, before we start, take off your uniform." Guadalupe instructed me.

I turned a beet-red almost instantly. "M-My uniform?! Guadalupe, that's so embarrassing!" I cried out.

"Relax, you can keep the skirt on. Your uniform looks heavy. And trust me, you do not want to get that thing sweaty!" She informed me. I cursed under my breath as I unbuttoned my shirt, and threw it onto the chair, leaving me in a blue bra and my skirt. I was blushing madly as I tried to cover my chest.

"I-Is this necessary?!" I cried. "What if one of the boys sees me?!"

Guadalupe shrugged. "Like I said, they're all busy right now," she reminded me. I took a deep breath as I took in what she said. If Masaki were to see me, I wouldn't be able to talk to him again. However, I just had to trust that what she was saying was true. "To begin, get on the treadmill next to mine!" she puffed as she continued running on her treadmill.

With a doubtful and skeptical mindset, I stepped onto the treadmill beside Guadalupe's. I saw a few buttons on the front, but the ones that stood out to me were three on the right which read "Slow", "Moderate", and "Fast".

"If you're not quite an athlete, I'd recommend going on 'Slow'," Guadalupe suggested to me. In a moment of stupidity, I pressed the "Moderate" button. I instantly regretted it as the treadmill began to move.

"Wah!" I cried out as I felt myself beginning to fall over.

"Grab onto the handles next to you!" Guadalupe instructed me. Before I could fall over completely, I grabbed onto the handles and kept myself upward. I started to get a grip on my footing as I ran in place, feeling myself sweat from the hot air and motion. Within seconds, I was gasping for air.

"G-Guada-!" I couldn't even finish my sentence because of my shortness of breath. I tried to reach for the button again, but I didn't want to risk falling over again.

"You're doing great!" Guadalupe encouraged me some more. "Just keep pushing on and you'll get it!"

I wheezed, sucking in all the air I could as I felt my legs beginning to tremble. How was this the "Moderate" option?! I felt like I was going to be violently hurled off of the treadmill! "G-uada-!" I tried shouting out, but my lungs weren't pushing the air out. My face must have been a bright blue-red. I was dripping with sweat, and coupled with my embarrassment, I felt like I was going to die. "L-Lupe!" I screamed.

"Kanon?!" Guadalupe shouted out as her eyes widened. Her face quickly went serious as she stopped her treadmill, then reached over to mine and turned it off. I took a moment to catch my breath as I sat down onto the ground. "You alright?" she asked me.

"Yeah..." I muttered, fanning myself off. In this moment, I was glad she suggested I remove my uniform. I would have been baking alive if I were to be in it!

"Want me to grab you some water?" Guadalupe asked me. I nodded as I thirsted for the taste of some sweet, cold water. Guadalupe dashed off as she tossed a towel my way. I wiped the sweat off my brow as only a few seconds later, Guadalupe returned with a bottle of water.

"Thanks," I mumbled, gulping down the water as I exhaled a relaxed "Aaahhhh...". I leaned back, just happy to be alive.

Gudadalupe chuckled again as she sat down next to me. "Maybe we should start you off a little more slowly. But hey, thanks for training with me anyway. We'll have to do this again, just not so quickly."

I smiled at her as she picked up her sweat rag and walked out of the room. I took in a deep breath as the door on the other side opened.

"Hmm?" I called out as Ryo entered.

"Oh, sorry!" Ryo apologized as he covered his eyes and turned away. What was wrong? Then, I looked down at myself, and saw my uniform on the floor behind me. Oh, _shit_.

I scurried to put my uniform back on, frantically buttoning it back up. I couldn't even look Ryo in the eyes; I was just too embarrassed! After a few seconds, I heard him calling from outside the gym.

"You decent yet?" Ryo asked.

"Y-Yeah..." I replied. He then walked in, and to my surprise, he didn't look nearly as flushed as I did. I figured he would, seeing a girl dressed in a bra on accident and whatnot. "Sorry, didn't mean to intrude on you like that," He apologized to me. "I didn't know you were starting a workout routine. You should have let me know!"

I gave a sheepish smile and then shrugged. "I... kinda did, but I'd rather not get into that right now," I replied to him.

"That's alright," He answered, scratching the back of his head. I just sort of stared at him in awe - not only was he easily the tallest one here, his arms and legs were on the muscular side. Damn, this man was a hottie! He might have have been quite as high on my priority list as Masaki was, but Ryo was hardly lacking in the hots department whatsoever. "You just kinda waiting around for the concert?" Ryo asked me.

I nodded at him, trying not to stare at his muscles for too long. "Y-Yeah, just kinda passing time," I replied. "Hey, while you're here, may I do an editorial on you? I've always wanted to do a story on a famous basketball player." I pulled my camera and a journal out of my bag.

In response, Ryo flashed a wide grin in my direction and shrugged. "Of course! I never turn down one of these."

"Perfect!" I cheered as I raised up my camera and kneeled down. "Can you strike some poses for me?"

"Sure!" He answered, rushing toward an orange, shiny basketball in the corner of the room. First, he spun the basketball around on his fingertip, then he held the basketball at his waist as he showed off the sides of his arm and leg, and then he tossed the ball over my head. I jumped, as I wasn't expecting him to toss the ball at me, but I instinctively pressed the button on my camera and snapped the picture. I looked over all three pictures - they all turned out decently, and I thought they captured Ryo's athleticism perfectly. "How did they turn out?" Ryo asked me.

"See for yourself!" I replied. I handed him the camera as he looked through the pictures and nodded.

"Oh, nice! I think they turned out well." Ryo complimented my shots. "Well, now what?"

I cleared my throat and then pulled my journal and a pen out. "First question. What's it like winning a really close game?"

Ryo leaned back and smiled at me. "It's a real rush, let me tell you that. Like... at first, you can't even really believe that it happened, and you sort of just keep looking at the scoreboard just to make sure you landed it. And then everyone cheers you on, and your team congratulates you, and it's just exhilarating," He replied to me.

I took a minute to write all this down, occasionally nodding back at him. "Okay. How do you usually go about your training?" I asked him.

He shrugged again. "I try to do different things every day, you know. One day I'll lift some weights, other days I'll go for a run, but one thing I always do is practice basketball from home. I just want to help out my team, you know?"

I nodded, jotting everything down. Ryo was just so calm and ready to be interviewed, it was a little surprising. While I'd done interviews for people at school for the yearbook and whatnot, and I had done some editorials on locals, I'd yet to interview someone famous like Ryo. I never believed he would just be this calm about it.

"Okay, final question," I began, taking a second to clear my throat. "What would you say you'd be looking for in an ideal partner?"

Ryo chuckled a bit, and shrugged. "Well, uh... that's a hard question. I can't say I've really taken the time, to, uh... think that through..." Ryo turned away from me, his face flushing red as he twiddled his thumbs. While he'd been relaxed just a minute ago, he now looked nervous.

"Oh, sorry. Is that a question I shouldn't have asked?" I asked him.

Ryo shook his head, and took a deep breath. "No, it's fine. It's a question that I might need to think about. You know, tell you what. When I do figure it out, I'll let you know."

I nodded in return as I stashed away my camera and journal. "Thanks, Ryo. This was a pleasant experience."

Ryo nodded as well. "And thank you, Kanon! I had fun with this as well."

Right before Ryo and I could finish everything up, Lorenzo burst into the gym.

"Lorenzo?" Ryo asked, tilting his head. "What's going on here?"

Lorenzo adjusted his tie as he grinned at us. "Well, I'd just like to let you know that the famous Amy-chan Sakura's concert is beginning in only a few minutes, and I'm just coming in to make sure everyone's attending! It's really important we're all there, you know?" Lorenzo reminded us.

"Oh, right!" I answered. "Okay, we'll be right there!"

With that, Ryo, Lorenzo, and I made our way out of the train and walked toward the courtyard.


	5. Chapter 1: Train Life

Ryo, Lorenzo, and I stepped out of the train, where we saw everyone gathered around outside. Amy-chan was standing on the stage, breathing into a microphone to test out its volume. Daquan was setting up some steel beams to hang lights from as a ladder was positioned near the stage, while Azizah was installing wires and sockets behind the stage. I could also see Asa handing out cookies to everyone else, who were each gathered in their own groups.

"Ah, so you three have made it," I heard Michiru call out. She jotted our names down on her clipboard and looked at us. "Though Kanon, I must say I'm quite surprised not to see you with Masaki this time," she muttered to me. I couldn't help but blush profusely as she mentioned that.

"Um... I, uh... wanted to hang out with Ryo!" I sputtered out. "Y-yeah, the two of us were hanging out."

Michiru nodded. "Right, right. Anyway, just make sure that you all stay here, okay? I'm going to be keeping watch of everyone who enters the train again." e Then, Lorenzo piped up, saying something completely unrelated to the topic at hand. "Y'know, Michiru... smart girls like you are hard to come across."

I huffed a bit as Lorenzo finished that sentence. Yes, I understood he was just flirting, and I knew that Michiru was definitely smarter than most of us here, but did he have to go and throw me, as well as every other woman in the world, under the bus like that?

Michiru nodded, not taking her eyes off of her clipboard. "Mhmm. Yeah, sure." She muttered, sounding like she wasn't even paying attention to him.

Lorenzo sighed as he started to walk away from Michiru's direction. "Never mind..." He murmured as he instead approached Yuki and Guadalupe, who were adjacent to us. Oh no, this wouldn't be good. I followed Lorenzo along, just to make sure he didn't say or do anything stupid. "Hey, Yuki!" Lorenzo called out in a flirtatious manner. Yuki turned her head to the Ultimate Entrepreneur and raised her eyebrow.

"Lorenzo, what do you want?" Yuki asked him. Guadalupe also gave him a side-eye as Lorenzo took a minute to adjust his tie.

"I've been wondering. How can you be around snow so much, if you're just so hot?" He flirted, raising his eyebrows at Yuki. The Ultimate Extreme Snowboarder just gave a huff, and then kneeled down and pulled up a gray snowboard with the name "Hatano" written diagonally across it in white letters from underneath the train. "Hey, how did you do that?" He asked. I honestly didn't know either.

Yuki shrugged, and without answering his question, whacked him over the head.

"Ow!" Lorenzo shrieked as Yuki put her snowboard back underneath the train. "Geez, I was just giving you a compliment!"

"Girls don't like nice guys," I heard Kaemon blurt out. "Just forget about it."

"Clever observation there, Kaemon," Michiru noted. "But speaking as a woman myself, I actually love nice men. Turns out men like you just aren't as nice as you think."

Kaemon and Lorenzo went completely silent for a few seconds before Utamuro approached us.

"Hey, Lorenzo, Michiru?" Utamuro began. The two of them turned toward Utamuro, who appeared to have something on his mind. "Umm... Amy-chan says she'd like to wear a new outfit for her performance tonight, so I'm going to need to go inside and work on a new outfit for her.

Michiru nodded and then turned a page on her clipboard, and wrote Utamuro's name on the paper. "Alright, just be back before too long, okay?"

Utamuro nodded. "I'll make sure of it! After all, I _am_ the Ultimate Clothing Designer! I can have a new outfit finished in no time flat!" He then ran inside the train in a flash.

While I was out here, I looked around the area where everyone was outside. Rai, Aiko, and Hikooki were standing near the window of the train, with Hikooki staring off into the corner of the courtyard while Rai and Aiko were talking with each other about something. Tame and Kenji were underneath the same tree as before, sitting in total silence. Shiro was in their own corner, staring up at the sky, while Tomoe was sitting in the back trying to work a video camera. Strangely enough, it seemed that Masaki, Hideki, Toko, Sen, and Saeko were nowhere to be seen.

"We're about to start any minute now..." Michiru noted. "Alright, I'm going back inside the train to look for the others. Lorenzo, you've volunteered to be my assistant event planner, so you're coming with me."

Lorenzo jolted a bit and then nodded. "Y-Yeah. I'll go look for them with you," he replied as the two of them went back inside the train.

"Hey Kanon, you excited for the show?" Daquan asked me as he approached, his arms covered in dust and burn marks. I cringed a bit as I saw his arms, but he was still smiling as if he wasn't affected at all. "We all put a lot of work into making this concert the best ever. Now, all we're waiting on is the new costume," he told me.

"Yeah, I'm excited!" I replied. "I bet this is going to be great! I just can't believe you set all this up in the matter of a few hours..." While I shouldn't have been so skeptical of the Ultimate Steelworker's abilities, it still bordered on inhuman how quickly he was able to set it all up."

Daquan chuckled a bit and patted my shoulder. "Nah, this is nothing. You should have seen the time my Uncle Nelson and I helped with an entire construction site!" He boasted. "But really, I just hope you have a good time."

"Hey, thanks, Daquan." I thanked him and nodded.

"Don't mention it. I'm just happy to help out." He replied.

Suddenly, Masaki walked out of the train, with his hands in his pockets. He instantly walked up to me, and I giggled a bit while trying to hold in my blushing.

"Hey, Kanon. What's up?" He asked me.

"N-Nothing... just kinda waiting for the show to start, what about you?" I asked him.

He shrugged and leaned against the train. "Not really much," he replied. "I see that everyone else is out here right now, except for a few. What time is it?" He asked me.

I looked down at my phone, to note that the time was 7:30 pm. In only two hours and thirty minutes, it would be night time again, and time to go back to sleep. "Seven-thirty," I replied. Masaki nodded.

"Alright," He replied. "You know, I'm really hoping no one dies. I don't think anyone would kill anyone else right now, but I just... I still hope nothing happens, you know?" He told me as he walked up to Asa and grabbed a few cookies from her. He handed two of them to me.

"Try them!" Asa encouraged me. "I spent a very long time on these cookies, so please eat as much as you'd like! But also remember to save some for everybody else."

I nodded, trying not to think too hard about what Masaki told me. I took a bite out of one of Asa's cookies, and instantly I felt my hands stuffing them into my mouth. They tasted so perfet, as if someone rolled up heaven and put it into a cookie. "This is amazing!" I complimented her, with a mouth full of cookie crumbs.

Asa giggled at me. "Just remember not to talk with your mouth full! It's impolite, you know!"

My eyes widened as swallowed it down instantly, my face flushed red after Asa finished that sentence. I just hoped Masaki didn't think I was weird or gross after that moment.

Masaki, Asa, and I talked for quite some time, waiting for Utamuro to be finished on Amy-chan's costume. After some time, Masaki's eyes widened.

"Oh, shit." He whispered. "We need someone to stand guard while they're all in the train," Masaki noted to us.

"I think Michiru is already doing that," I replied.

Masaki shook his head. "She's taking roll of everyone who's still there. We need someone to actually stand guard, in case Michiru isn't there during a murder."

Asa and I nodded for a few seconds, trying to figure out who would be fit for the role of security guard.

"What about Hideki?" I asked.

Masaki shook his head again. "No way, the guy is way too gung-ho about this. We need someone more subtle, more casual."

Suddenly, Hikooki walked toward us. "Ahem," He cleared his throat. "I could do this. Let me let you guys in on a little secret," He began, leaning toward Masaki, Asa, and I. "I'm suspicious of Lorenzo," He whispered to all of us. "The way he talks like he knows something all of us don't, the way he volunteered to help Michiru plan this event out of nowhere, how casual he's being... he's definitely planning something,"

We all stood there in silence for a few seconds before Masaki spoke up again. "I can see what you mean..." He muttered, nodding.

After a few seconds, Lorenzo walked back out again and approached us. "Hey so, I've decided that I'm going to wash some clothes for us. I need to wash off some of mine, and I'm wondering who else would like their clothes washed?" He asked us.

Hikooki leaned toward us again. "See what I mean?"

I nodded, seeing exactly what Hikooki meant. Lorenzo spoke in a tone that was all too casual and cool-headed. The way he offered up something like this, the way he tried to make us acquainted with him. The first thing a murderer does is make you feel comfortable with them.

"Oh!" Yuki called out. "I keep sweating in everything I wear. Go into my room, and you'll find plenty of my clothes."

"Mine too!" Guadalupe called out. "I really work up a sweat when I work out!"

Lorenzo nodded. "Okay. I'll go get the washing machine ready." He dashed off back into the train, disappearing from sight again.

"This isn't going to end well..." Hikooki muttered. "I'm gonna go stand guard." Hikooki walked back up to the train, leaving the rest of us behind.

After a few more minutes passed, the lights on the stage flickered on. An assortment of pink, blue, and yellow lights flashed around the stage as Amy-chan was spotlit up front. But weren't we waiting for her outfit to arrive?

"Okay, my new outfit is taking a while to arrive here, so I'm just going to begin my show now!" Amy-chan announced. We all cheered and clapped as Amy-chan made a pose onstage, and the intro to a J-Pop song began. I even saw Tame take off her headphones and Kenji take his eyes off of his book as they turned to face Amy-chan.

Azizah approached us, dusting off her hands. "So, what do you all think of this light display?" She asked us.

"You didn't install anything dangerous in there, did you?" asked Kaemon.

Azizah shrugged. "Nope, just regular spotlights. Nothing too fancy or out of the ordinary."

Kaemon scowled and crossed his arms at Azizah. "I've got my eye on you, you know."

"I think it looks great!" I told Azizah. "You did a fantastic job on these lights!"

Azizah smiled at me and nodded. "Thank you. I'm not usually the type to listen to music, but this should be fine,"

"We all set?" asked Daquan.

Asa scratched her chin. "We're still waiting for some of the others. Miss Nura, Mister Harada, Mister Kawata, Miss Rakuyama, Mister Ricci, Mister Ikehara, Mister Ozawa, and Mx Matsura are currently not present."

"I'm tired of waiting!" Amy-chan shouted out. "Anyway, they're going to have to catch these next few songs, because I'm starting now!"

We all cheered as Amy-chan began her first song, doing her dance routine as the lights flashed and strobed in time with her music. Daquan and Azizah stood at the side of the stage as Asa stayed put, occasionally handing out sweets to the rest of us. I took a few pictures of all of us, as I relaxed and listened to Amy-chan's beautiful music. I was having such a good time, I almost lost track of where we were, and the circumstances in which we were under.

Then, at around 8:30, after a few of Amy-chan's songs, Sen and Hideki dashed out of the train. Sen walked toward Yuki and Guadalupe, while Hideki walked toward Masaki and me.

"Oh, it's _you_." Masaki huffed. "What do you want?"

Hideki grinned and crossed his arms at Masaki. "I've just been making sure no one's up to no good on that train there. And I came out here to keep my eye on you, mister Ultimate Thief!"

Masaki sighed and shrugged. "What are you gonna do? I'm a thief, not a murderer."

"Leave Masaki alone!" I demanded. "He's not doing anything bad!"

Hideki chuckled. "An accomplice, eh? I'm keeping my eyes on you." Hideki then stood next to us, as we tried to simply ignore him. Then, we overheard Sen talking with Yuki and Guadalupe.

"Yuki, I regret to inform you that your poster has gone missing," Sen informed her.

"What, how do you know I had a poster in my room?!" Yuki shouted at Sen.

Sen shrugged. "You keep your door open to let the hot air out, don't you?"

Yuki gulped, and then she dashed into the train. "I'll be right back!" she assured Guadalupe and Sen.

"Please hurry before Amy-chan begins her next song!" Guadalupe called out.

After a few more minutes went by, Amy-chan kicked her leg up into the air as the music started again. "Who's ready for more kawaii sugoi music?" Amy-chan asked us all. We all cheered again as she started another dance routine, starting up her singing again. I took more photos of us all around - Amy-chan on the stage, Daquan and Azizah at the side, Masaki, Hideki, Asa, Ryo, and I near the train, Rai and Aiko near the window, Tame and Kenji underneath the tree, Shiro and Tomoe opposite us, Guadalupe and Sen waiting at the train's door for Yuki, and Kaemon playing a game on his laptop off in the corner.

Then, Aiko started to shout something only barely coherent. "Everyone! Everyone! Listen to me!" she cried out. Amy-chan stopped her music as all of us who were outside (except for Amy-chan, Daquan, and Azizah) all dashed toward Aiko, whose eyes were beginning to glaze over as she held her hands up to her cheeks.

"Aiko, what's wrong?!" Rai shouted out, holding onto her shoulders. "Are you okay?!"

"A horrific 'bang!' sound! It rang like the dark lord's bell which tolls as yet another is dragged to the depths of hell!" Aiko screamed. Then, her face wormed its way into a giant, toothy grin. "And it... sounded so beautiful."

Hideki took a deep breath as he pulled his sunglasses down. "Mother of god..." He muttered to himself. "I'm gonna need some smart people to help me with this." He announced. He then looked at me, and then at Masaki. "Kanon, Masaki, you're coming with me. We're getting to the bottom of this."

Masaki stood still for a second, and then turned away. "I... I don't want to work with you, Hideki..."

Hideki shrugged. "Fine then. Kanon, just you then."

"M-Me?" I asked, jumping a little. What if... the worst had happened? There was just no way I was mentally prepared to see what I was about to see.

"You heard me. Come on." Hideki demanded. The two of us went into the train's main room, which seemed just normal enough, except the heater was turned on for some reason. However, the atmosphere was rather... eerie. Something just wasn't right. I could feel my stomach sinking as I mentally prepared myself for the worst.

Suddenly, Michiru and Hikooki ran toward us.

"Did you hear it too?!" Michiru asked, her hands shaking and her face sweating. She was carrying that same book underneath her arm.

Hideki shook his head. "No, but Aiko did. We're gonna check it out."

Hikooki nodded. I came as soon as I heard it. I just... I have no idea where it was..." He muttered to himself.

Hideki, Michiru, Hikooki, and I all walked down the hall, past the food room and into the TV room...

...And before us stood a sight none of us could have ever prepared for.

A pink splatter against and a bullet hole in the wall, with the dead body of Lorenzo Ricci leaning against the wall. A bullet hole was in his head, with pink blood dripping down onto his suit and onto the floor. His eyes were still wide open, looking horrified. Across from Lorenzo was Yuki, unconscious and against the opposite wall, wielding a gun in her hands.

BING! BONG! BING! BONG! We heard the awful bell ring throughout the train. Suddenly, the monitor in the corner turned on, and the face of Monokuma appeared on the screen.

"A body has been discovered!" Monokuma stated, his voice as eerie and creepy as ever. "After a certain amount of time has passed, a Class Trial will begin!"

I stopped. I couldn't possibly believe what I had seen.

"Wha...?" Yuki groaned as her eyes opened up. She screamed as she let go of the gun and saw the horrors which unfolded before her.

"No..." Hikooki muttered out. "I couldn't... stop this..."

"Who... would do such a thing..." Michiru whispered to herself. "My promise... I couldn't keep it..."

Who would kill Lorenzo? Sure, he was kind of weird and creepy to girls, but that didn't mean he deserved this...


	6. Chapter 1: Investigation

After the discovery of Lorenzo's body, everyone else ran inside the train as quickly as they could. We all looked at the corpse for a few seconds and then turned to Yuki. Before we could say anything, Monokuma burst into the room wearing the same facial expression as usual. "Upupupu, the first murder has taken place! Now, you all have to find the evidence that leads toward Lorenzo's killer! After a certain amount of time has passed, a class trial will begin!"

"A class trial?" asked Hikooki.

Monokuma nodded. "This is where the culprit, or as I like to call them, the _blackened_ , will be determined by a group vote! If you guess correctly, the blackened will be executed! If you fail and guess the wrong person, everyone else will be executed instead! Also, attendance is mandatory for _all_ surviving students."

My heart skipped a beat as Monokuma finished that sentence. What if... we were to guess wrong? I didn't want to be wrong about this.

"Also, if you check your E-Handbook, you will see that the Monokuma File section has been added!" Monokuma informed us. I quickly pulled my E-Handbook out of my bag and tapped the "Monokuma File" option. There, that's when I saw a full-body picture of Lorenzo, grayed out with the word "DEAD" plastered over it in pink, stenciled letters. The rest of the file read this:

 **Monokuma File #1:**

*The victim was Lorenzo Ricci. The time of death is estimated to be around 8:45 p.m. The body was discovered in the television room on the Monokuma Express. The cause of death was a gunshot to the head, which killed him in seconds. No other external injuries were found, and no chemicals such as poison were detected. His face looks surprised as if he had caught off guard.

"Now, get to work with your investigation! I'll see you all later~!" He then dashed out of the room without a trace as the 23 of us just stood there in silence, trying to think of something. First, we all eyed Yuki.

"I-I..." Yuki stammered, her voice trembling and her arms shaking. "I didn't do it! I swear I didn't!" she cried.

Hideki scoffed. "That's what they all say," He replied.

I took a deep breath. I was sure that if I investigated this case thoroughly, I could figure it out.

"Everyone!" Masaki called out. "Look for evidence that leads toward Lorenzo's killer. Kanon, care to help me out?"

I jumped a bit as Masaki said my name, but I nodded. "Yeah, I'll help you out," I replied.

"I'll help out as well," Michiru offered. "I'm sure I can be of assistance."

Masaki nodded. "Sure. You're smart and reasonable, I'm sure you'll help us out as well."

Michiru pushed her glasses up and clung onto her book. "Alright. I say we begin by inspecting Lorenzo's body."

Masaki, Michiru, and I slowly approached Lorenzo's body. I plugged my nose as the overwhelming stench of rotting flesh and blood clogged my sinuses, but it seemed Masaki and Michiru were less fazed than I was.

"As you can see here, there's a bullet wound in his head," Masaki noted. "This means that the killer got him with a single shot,"

While guns were certainly much different from cameras, I knew that getting a good shot with a camera could take hours, and it was certainly a test of trial and error. Hitting someone with a fatal shot on their first try would be next to impossible.

"Look up here!" Michiru called out, bringing attention to the bloody bullet hole in the wall. "You know what this means? Lorenzo was standing up right as he was killed."

I snapped a photograph of the scene, just to keep it around as evidence should it come up again.

"Wait, look here!" I began, seeing a clean pocketknife in Lorenzo's hand. "He was wielding this as he was killed, I see."

"Excellent observation, Kanon!" Masaki called out. "But... why did he have a knife with him?"

I looked around in the corner to see a poster featuring a picture of a red-haired man on a snowboard, jumping through the air. "Hey, is this the poster Sen was talking about?" I asked. "Only Yuki would own a poster like this."

"Huh, you're right..." Michiru muttered to herself. "But how did it get here?"

"Maybe we just have to search for more clues," I suggested.

"Great idea!" Michiru replied. "I know the first place to look, too,"

Michiru lead us to a laundry room just below the science lab, where a large white washing machine and dryer were situated. A basket full of clothing sat upon the dryer - and it seemed that it was all full of Lorenzo's clothes.

"Oh, now I remember!" Masaki called out. "Yeah, only about 45 minutes before he died, Lorenzo offered to wash some clothes,"

"But..." I muttered, trying to wrap my head around the situation. "None of this makes sense. It should take almost two hours for a wash/dry cycle to be finished. 45 minutes is less than half of that," I pointed out.

Michiru rummaged through the laundry pile, and then pulled out a black bra. It was one which would be much too big for myself, but definitely not big enough for, say, Tame. "A bra? Funny to find this here..." Michiru muttered to herself. "...And it's Yuki's!" She then turned the bra toward us, pulling a tag on its side which read "Yuki" in black marker.

Masaki scratched his chin. "Oh, right! Yuki was the one who said she needed her clothes washed! But then... why is only her bra present? That seems a little weird,"

Michiru shrugged. "Lorenzo was always kind of shady. Wouldn't surprise me if there was a pair of her panties in here too," She then dug through the clothing again, and then her eyes widened. "I... feel something in here," She announced, before pulling out a piece of paper. "What's this?"

Masaki, Michiru, and I all looked at the paper and read its contents. It had been written in blue ink that was starting to run, but if one looked at it carefully, they could read, "Someone will die tonight. I need to-". There was more to it, but the ink was smeared beyond comprehension.

"Who left this here?" asked Masaki. "And more importantly, who wrote it in the first place?"

I thought to myself for a little bit, not yet coming up with a real answer. I looked at the setting the dryer had been on, and I noticed it was on its highest setting. "That's strange," I noted. "It doesn't look like there was a full enough load to put on its highest setting,"

"Hey, why don't we go search for more clues?" Michiru suggested. Masaki and I both nodded as we made our way back to the television room, where I could see Hideki, Utamuro, Yuki, Guadalupe, Daquan, Kaemon, and Sen. Utamuro was in a chair, shaking, while Yuki was looking at the ground and Hideki, Sen, Daquan, and Guadalupe were standing. Kaemon was sitting in the corner, writing something down.

"Ah, you guys are back," Hideki noted to himself. "I interrogated Utamuro and Yuki, but I couldn't quite get any answers out of 'em," He told us.

"How many times do I have to tell you?!" Yuki shouted. "I'm innocent! I'm being framed!"

Hideki stomped on the ground. " _I'll_ be the judge of that, thank you very much," He replied.

Michiru pulled her clipboard from under her shoulder again. "Hideki, if it helps you out, I made a list of everyone who was either in here to begin with, or came in here during the concert," she informed him, handing him the clipboard.

Hideki nodded. "Okay. Saeko, Toko, Lorenzo, Utamuro, Sen, Hikooki, Yuki..." He muttered to himself. "Alright, I guess I'll go interrogate Hikooki next," He then walked out of the room.

"Hey, Utamuro?" I called out, approaching him. The poor guy could barely even look my way; he was shaking too much.

"S-Sorry, I'm just having trouble taking this all in..." He muttered to himself. "One second, Lorenzo was with me, talking with me and hanging out as I was making that new dress for Amy-chan, and the next second, I find him dead in the room... I never even heard him leave," He muttered.

Masaki nodded. "Alright, so what you're saying is that you were with him some time before he died?" He asked.

Utamuro nodded. "Yeah. But I was so focused on Amy-chan's dress, I probably didn't even notice when he left. I also noticed that my knife was missing from the sleeve of my shirt, where I always put it..."

"Was it... this one?" asked Masaki, who handed Utamuro the knife Lorenzo was holding.

Utamuro gasped. "Yes, that's the one! Where did you find it?"

Masaki pointed at Lorenzo's body. "He had it in his hand when we found him dead."

Utamuro cringed a bit as he walked away. "I'm um... going to wash this off real well... I just... it doesn't, umm... feel right,"

"Masaki, I didn't even see you take the knife. How did you do it?" asked Michiru.

Masaki shrugged. "Ultimate Thief, remember?"

Michiru nodded. "Okay. Hey, why don't we ask Guadalupe if she knows anything?"

We all approached Guadalupe, who was standing near Yuki.

"Guadalupe, you know Yuki better than the rest of us. Do you think you can give us some insight on this case?" asked Masaki.

Guadalupe nodded. "Yeah, there's one big thing I've noticed," Guadalupe began. "Feel how hot it is in here? I looked at the heater, which turned on at around 8:00 p.m. This means that by the time Yuki got in here to retrieve her poster, the train was already heated up," she noted.

"What is the significance of that?" Michiru asked.

Guadalupe scratched her chin. "Yuki can't really handle the heat. She gets heat exhaustion really easily because she's so used to cold,"

Masaki nodded. "Alright... that makes sense. Thanks,"

"Now, why don't we ask Sen what's going on?" Michiru suggested. Masaki and I nodded as we approached Sen this time. He was inspecting Lorenzo's dead body, pressing down on the bullet hole on his head.

"Damn, if only I was a bit earlier... I could have saved him..." Sen muttered to himself.

"Hey dumbass, pretty sure he died instantly. Gunshots to the head would do that," Kaemon remarked.

Sen turned to us, ignoring Kaemon's comment. "As you can see here, the bullet wound is small. When someone is shot with a gun at a close range, the entrance wound is bigger and wider. This wound is small, which tells me it had to have been done at a long range," He informed us.

"Speaking of which," Daquan piped up. "From a range like that, it would take either ridiculous skill or luck to hit from a distance like that," He muttered to himself. "Even more so if the murder weapon was that pistol Yuki was using. Pistols are for close-range,"

Michiru's eyes lit up. "I have a new suspicion here..." she muttered to herself. "Kanon, Masaki, can you two go investigate Saeko and Toko? Those two are making me suspicious at the moment..."

"On it!" I replied, as Masaki and I walked toward the game room, where we saw Toko and Saeko sitting near the pachinko machine.

"Alright, what do y'all want?" Toko asked the two of us.

"We just have a few questions," Masaki asked. "Where were you two during the time of the murder?"

Toko shrugged. "I was in the bathroom the whole time," They testified.

"I can confirm this!" Saeko responded. "I kept watch on them. They must have eaten something that didn't agree with them."

"So Toko was in the bathroom the whole time..." I muttered to myself. "Saeko, did you see anyone pass by beforehand?"

Saeko scratched her chin. "Let's see... First, I saw Michiru and Lorenzo pass through here at around 7:45, and they just took our attendance to make sure we were both here. Shortly after, Utamuro passed through here, and we didn't see him come back through until the body discovery. Then I saw them both pass through again at 7:52. Michiru came back through here at 8:03, and then went back at 8:30. Only five minutes later, Hikooki came in here and went downstairs," she explained to us. "And then at 8:45, that's when I heard the gunshot,"

"Thanks," I replied, jotting everything down in my journal. "Masaki, do we have any other questions?"

"I've got one," Masaki began. "Toko, do you think this pistol was the one used to kill Lorenzo?" he asked.

Toko scratched their chin for a second, taking the gun from Masaki and feeling around the muzzle. "Definitely not," They replied. "The muzzle is cold, but the handle's warm. Whoever had it was just holding it, and there's no way it coulda been fired anytime in the past few minutes," They informed us.

"Thank you, Toko and Saeko," I thanked them. "Who else should we talk to?" I asked Masaki.

"Let's go meet up with the others," Masaki suggested.

"Good idea," I replied. Masaki, Saeko, Toko, and I met up with everyone else, now present in the living room.

"Masaki, Kanon, you're back!" Michiru called out. "Here, while you were talking with Saeko and Toko, Kaemon showed me this," She then handed us a sheet of paper with a rough map of everyone's positions at the time of Lorenzo's death. It showed all of us except for Toko, Saeko, Utamuro, Michiru, Hikooki, Yuki, and Lorenzo outside, with Toko in the bathroom and Saeko near them. Utamuro was in his room, while Michiru and Hikooki were in the middle room with their exact positions unknown. Yuki and Lorenzo were in the TV room. Notably, Lorenzo was positioned directly in the doorways.

"Oh, this is really helpful!" I replied. "I hate to admit it, but Kaemon really came through and helped us out here."

Kaemon shrugged. "Hey, when you game all the time, you gotta make maps. Not that a casual like you would understand,"

"Anyway," Michiru began, pushing her glasses up. "I've cracked this case already. I'm ready for the trial,"

Masaki chuckled to himself. "Nice, I've already cracked this case myself," He responded. How did these two figure it out so quickly? I was still rather stumped myself.

Suddenly, the monitor turned on again, showing Monokuma sitting in his chair again. "Time is up! Meet me in the main room of the train, and then we will begin the Class Trial!"

I gulped as all of us walked into the main room of the train to see Monokuma standing before us.

"I'm still confused after all that," Rai muttered to himself. "What if we don't guess correctly?"

"I don't think that'll be an issue," Masaki replied.

Before anyone else could ay anything, four walls shot up from underneath us, enclosing us in an elevator-like space.

"Oooh, this is just like the elevators at all those conventions I go to!" Amy-chan mused. How could she possibly be so childlike at a time like this?

I stood next to Masaki, my heart pounding harder every time. _What if we couldn't do it?_ I kept asking myself. I sure hoped we could figure this one out.


	7. Chapter 1: Trial and Execution

After a few minutes, the elevator came to a stop. The 23 of us stepped out of the elevator and we entered a dark room with 24 different wooden podiums, each of them arranged in a circle. At one podium stood a sign with a grayed-out picture of Lorenzo's face on it, with a pink "X" drawn on it as if it were blood. Seeing the symbol of our dead friend was certainly unnerving, and I felt my heart pump faster as we approached our podiums.

"Everyone has an assigned podium!" Monokuma announced to us. "Behind each one is one of your names. Find yours, and that will be your podium for the trial!"

I gulped and approached the podiums. "Kaemon, Tame, Rai, Yuki, Hideki..." I muttered, reading off all the names until I found my own. "Kanon," I muttered, standing up at the podium. I sure hoped that I could figure out who the culprit in this case was...

 **Phase 1: Nonstop Discussion:**

"So," began Michiru. "Let's acknowledge the elephant in the room. Yuki, why were you in the room with Lorenzo at the time he died?"

Yuki jumped a bit at Michiru's question. "What? There's no way it could have been me! I went in there _way_ before he died!"

I scratched my chin at Yuki's statement. "No, that's not it!" I replied. Everyone turned to me as I pointed out the contradiction in Yuki's argument. "Yuki, you went in there at 8:30, and Lorenzo was found dead at 8:45. Not that much time."

Yuki gasped. Her hands started to shake as her eyes darted back-and-forth.

"Yes, Yuki..." Michiru noted. "Not to mention, it's quite suspicious that you were found holding the gun that killed Lorenzo," Michiru pointed out. Yuki gasped again, but then, I caught a contradiction in Michiru's argument.

"No, wait!" I called out again.

"Hmm?" Michiru asked, turning her head toward me.

For a split-second, I forgot exactly what I was saying. "Um, uh..."

"The gun Yuki was holding wasn't the one that killed Lorenzo," Masaki stated. "Toko, isn't that right?"

Toko's eyes lit up upon hearing Masaki's statement. "Oh, yeah, that's right! The gun Yuki was holding was too cold at the time to be the one that Lorenzo was shot with!" They pointed out. "Guns heat up at the muzzle after they're fired!"

Yuki gave a sigh of relief. "Whew, thanks, guys," Yuki exhaled, closing her eyes wiping sweat off her forehead.

"Of course," Michiru began, pushing her eyeglasses up. "Your name hasn't been totally cleared yet, Yuki,"

"What?!" Yuki cried out.

"But... didn't we just establish that the gun that killed Lorenzo wasn't the one in Yuki's hands?" asked Rai.

Michiru pulled the bra with Yuki's name on it out of her shirt. "Yuki, this was found near the crime scene. Care to explain?" she asked.

Yuki shivered as she looked at the bra in Michiru's hands, and then blushed. She looked down at the ground and gulped. "Umm..."

Michiru pushed her glasses up and gave a soft "Hmm.". "Seems you don't have much in the way of words," she began. "I'll ask again - why was this near the crime scene?"

"I don't know!" Yuki cried out. "I-It doesn't... belong to me..."

"Oh, really?" asked Michiru, showing everyone the tag. "It does say _your_ name on it,"

Wait, this _wasn't_ Yuki's bra? Or was it? If it wasn't, how did it get there?

"What if it's incorrectly labeled?" suggested Tame. "This could be a setup. I wouldn't doubt it if two girls here had the same boob size, you know,"

Saeko piped up. "Wait a minute! I'm an expert at spacial recognition!" She called out. "I've actually taken note of every single girl's chest size here! Yuki's is unique among us!"

Yuki gasped again, her face going a deeper red.

"Just as I thought," Michiru noted.

"It's approximately Yuki's size as well, give or take," Saeko informed us.

Yuki, the killer? No... that just didn't seem right. I knew there had to be evidence that cleared her name somewhere.

"That makes a little bit of sense," Hideki mused. "But let's focus on another mystery. Why was Yuki asleep when Lorenzo's body was found?"

I thought for a minute, but I remembered Guadalupe's account. "I've got it!" I replied. "Remember the heater that was on?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, it was really hot in there..." Kaemon mumbled.

"Yeah, I remember that!" Azizah replied. "It was turned on at 8:00 p.m.!"

"Not just that," I replied. "According to Guadalupe, Yuki gets really bad heat exhaustion. Remember yesterday? She was on the verge of fainting, and Guadalupe had to carry her back into the train!"

Yuki huffed, her cheeks puffing out as she looked down. Her face was starting to get even redder.

"Hold on!" called out Kenji all of a sudden.

 **Phase 2: Rebuttal Showdown:**

I jumped at Kenji's sudden dismissal. "Y-yes, Kenji?"

"I highly doubt Yuki fell asleep immediately," Kenji stated. "It's more likely she shot him, and _then_ passed out moments after,"

While he made a good point, I couldn't help but feel there was something he was glossing over.

"But Yuki would have been struggling to stand during all that!" I replied.

"Adrenaline can push one's body far beyond its usual limits," Kenji pointed out. "If Yuki really wanted to kill him enough, her body would have allowed her to for only a moment or so,"

I took in a deep breath, and tried to come up with something - anything - which would clear Yuki's name. Then, I suddenly remembered the Shaun White poster in the corner - the reason she went back into the train in the first place.

"The Shaun White poster!" I replied. "She would have made a move toward _that_ before killing Lorenzo!"

Kenji gave me a quiet "Hmph.". "Perhaps she was so consumed with rage, she targeted Lorenzo first? Sun Tzu has taught me that humans will go to war for the pettiest of reasons,"

I gulped again. Oops, looks like that didn't quite clear her name. I just knew it wasn't Yuki though!

"All she would need to do is run into Toko's room, pick out a gun of her choice, and fire away," Kenji explained to me.

"Wait!" I called out. "Saeko never saw Yuki during her time in the game room! If Yuki had gone past the game room to grab a gun, then she would have mentioned so!"

 **Phase 3: Nonstop Debate:**

Everyone sat in silence for a few seconds as Yuki took a deep breath. "I told you I didn't do it..."

"What about the bra, Yuki?" asked Michiru. "Why was that there?"

Yuki blushed with a beet-red and took in a big gulp. "I... don't wear a bra..." she murmured.

Kaemon gasped at that statement. "What?! No fuckin' way!"

Yuki nodded, her face still flushed and looking down. "They get too hot..."

"That raises a question," Hikooki began. "If it wasn't Yuki's, then whose was it?"

"That is an interesting question," Masaki replied. "Kanon, do you remember when we were in the laundry room?"

My eyes widened as I remembered what Masaki was talking about. We found the bra inside of the clothing pile atop the washing machine. I remembered the note, but I didn't think that was relevant to what Masaki was saying. No, what I remembered was the "High" setting on the dryer.

"The dryer!" I called out. "It was placed on 'High'!"

Masaki nodded. "That's correct. Anyone want to take a guess as to what happens when the dryer is on too high of a setting? I bet Utamuro knows the answer to this one."

"The clothes shrink!" Utamuro replied. "That means the bra _wasn't_ in Yuki's size!"

Michiru clicked her tongue and pushed her glasses up. "Okay then. I guess this means that Yuki's name has been cleared..."

"Alright, we've established who it's _not_ ," Daquan began. "Now, why don't we figure out who it _was_?"

"I like where you're going with this," Masaki replied. "First, why don't we discuss where the killer was when Lorenzo was killed?"

Aiko gave a wide grin. "I know~! The killer must have been in the TV room with Lorenzo, and ran away as fast as they could!"

I instantly spotted a contradiction in Aiko's claim. I remembered Sen's autopsy. "No, wait!" I replied. "Sen, didn't you say that the bullet hit him from a big distance?"

Sen piped up immediately. "Why, yes I did!" He replied. "The bullet wound and the hole in the wall were too small for him to have been shot from the TV room,"

"Maybe someone moved the body?" suggested Tame.

"No, that couldn't have happened," Masaki replied. "There was a blood splatter on the wall as well."

"Ohhh, none of this makes any sense!" Amy-chan wined. "There's no way you can shoot someone in the train from a distance!"

Kaemon cleared his throat. "Uh, no. Sweetie, let me handle this. If it's too much for you to figure out, the train has these things called _doors_. If Lorenzo and the killer were both in the doorways, they could have fired from all the way on the other side,"

I wasn't exactly a fan of Kaemon's condescending tone, but he was correct. It wasn't a stretch to say that someone killed him from a room or two over.

"Hmm... if my old suspicion was wrong, then I have a new one," Michiru began. "Toko. It's pretty tough to hit a target from that kind of distance, correct? Ultimate Gunslinger?"

Toko nodded. "Yeah, I reckon it'd be pretty tough for someone to hit from that distance," They replied. "I mean, unless it was me."

Michiru chuckled and pushed her glasses up again. "Just as I thought. Not even trying to cover up your shame,"

Toko chuckled again. "Hey, I never said it was me. Just ask Saeko, I was in the bathroom the whole time,"

Saeko piped up. "Yes, I was! They were in there the whole time!"

Michiru nodded. "Okay, okay..."

Masaki scratched his chin for a minute. "Hey, Michiru. Didn't you have a list of all the people who were in the train, or who came onto the train before Lorenzo died?"

Michiru's eyes perked up. "Yes, I did! Here you go!" She handed the clipboard to Masaki, who reviewed the list for a few seconds.

"Alright. Hideki, Sen, Saeko, Toko, Lorenzo, Utamuro, Hikooki, Yuki..." Masaki muttered to himself. "Well, we can rule out Lorenzo, obviously. Hideki and Sen went outside and were out there during the murder. Toko has an alibi, and we've cleared Yuki's name... this leaves Saeko, Utamuro, and Hikooki,"

"Wait, me?!" Saeko asked. "B-But... I was waiting for Toko the whole time!"

Masaki chuckled at Saeko's statement. "Yeah, but Toko _was_ in the bathroom. According to Kaemon's map, you were alone at the time of the murder."

Saeko quivered as Masaki kept pressing on. "Th-there's no way it was me! I swear!"

Was it really Saeko? I honestly didn't think it was.

"We'll get back to her," I replied to that. "In the meantime, we still have Utamuro and Hikooki,"

"Ah, yes, Utamuro," Michiru began. "If I recall correctly, you were with Lorenzo not too long before his death, correct?" she asked him.

"W-well, I suppose that's true," Utamuro muttered. "But he was my friend! There's no way I'd ever kill him!"

Asa then spoke up all of a sudden. "Hold on! Utamuro was supposed to be making a new dress for Amy-chan! Utamuro, did you have it with you?"

Utamuro's eyes lit up at that question. "Yes, I did!" He fumbled around his shirt and pants, but made a horrified expression. "I... can't find it..."

"Well, you're in luck!" Monokuma remarked, pulling a white, frilly dress with sparkles and glitter adorning the lower section. "It looks like you spent a _long_ time on this, Utamuro!"

"Sooooo _kawaii_!" Amy-chan gushed. "Utamuro, you made that for me?"

Tomoe lowered her sunglasses for a second. "Whoa, that's really awesome, even by _your_ standards!" She complimented him.

Utamuro nodded. "Yeah... I wanted to make it extra special for you,"

"Wait, I just remembered something," Ryo began. "Utamuro, you carry a knife with you, correct?" he asked. "I remember seeing a knife in Lorenzo's hand at the time of his death.

Utamuro nodded. "Yeah! Now that I think about it... I hung my shirt up so that my sleeves wouldn't get ruined. And I didn't even hear Lorenzo leave..."

"I've got it!" Ryo called out. "The killer must have taken the knife, and placed it at the scene for a red herring!"

Wait, that didn't seem exactly right. "Wait!" I called out. "He..."

"He...?" asked Hideki. "Come on, Kanon, spill the beans!"

 **Phase 4: Hangman's Gambit:**

I thought long and hard about why Lorenzo was holding onto Utamuro's knife. He definitely had a reason to have it with him, and it seemed like an awful lot of trouble to give it to Lorenzo in order to create red herring.

Then, I remembered when Masaki, Michiru, and I went into the laundry room. Michiru had found something in the laundry besides the bra.

L-O-R-E-N-Z-O'-S N-O-T-E-

 **Phase 5: Nonstop Debate:**

"I've got it!" I called out. "Inside of Lorenzo's laundry was a note saying that someone would die at 8:45!"

"Why would Lorenzo write down his plans at all?" asked Asa. "It seems like it would leave behind a lot of evidence,"

"He _was_ trying to be a better event planner," Utamuro replied. "It's likely that he wrote it down so that he wouldn't forget, and he tried to destroy the note when he put it in the washing machine!" He sighed and looked down. "Man... it upsets me that he tried to commit murder then..."

This meant that whoever killed Lorenzo was aware of his plan. But who could it have been?

"If I recall correctly, Hikooki was talking about how suspicious Lorenzo was," Hideki stated. "It makes sense that he would have found the note and killed him,"

Hikooki gasped. "What?! No, there's no way it could have been me! I was keeping guard!" He defended himself. "There's a rule against carrying guns, remember?"

While that was a good point, it simply wasn't correct. "No, that's not it!" I replied. "The rule is against carrying _ammunition_. There's no rule against carrying a loaded gun!"

"What?" asked Hikooki. "That... makes zero sense."

Monokuma shrugged. "She's right, y'know!"

Hikooki gulped again. "N-No! I'm not the killer, I swear!"

"You don't exactly have an alibi, though," Tame replied. "The map says your position was unclear,"

"Yeah, now that you mention it," Asa replied. "I do remember dear Hikooki saying Lorenzo was suspicious,"

Hideki nodded. "Yeah... You probably saw the note and killed him!"

"No I didn't!" Hikooki shouted out.

Shiro scratched the back of their head. "Tell us, where were you then?" They asked.

Hikooki sighed. "I was downstairs, in the scenic room," He replied.

I remembered - Saeko could confirm this! "I agree with that!" I called out. "Saeko, didn't you say that Hikooki went downstairs only minutes before Lorenzo was shot?"

Saeko's eyes lit up. "Yes, I did!" she confirmed. "He went downstairs at exactly 8:45!"

Hikooki breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally..."

"Wait!" called out Tomoe. "This means... we've got no one else! There's no one else it could have been! Is this killer a secret teleporter like in a movie?" she asked.

Masaki chuckled. "Actually... I'm not entirely sure that's true," He mused. Everyone took a second to look at him as he grinned. "Like I said, I had this one figured out from the very beginning. Kanon... think back to all the evidence. There's only one person here it could have been,"

My eyes widened as I figured it out. I gasped - I didn't want this to be true. No! It couldn't have been!

"But Masaki," Azizah began. "We cleared up everyone who was on that clipboard,"

"They..." I replied, stuttering over my words. "Weren't on that list..."

"Go on, Kanon," Masaki encouraged me. "If you don't... we may very well die here,"

I took a deep breath and looked in the direction of the killer, now that I had finally figured it out.

"Michiru Rakuyama."

Michiru gasped, jolting as she tried to hold onto the book under her arm. "Wh-what?! Me?! Th-that's preposterous! I would never do such a vile, heinous thing!" She defended herself.

"The evidence lines up, Michiru," Masaki pointed out. "You and Utamuro were the only ones who went into the living spaces. But Utamuro was working on the dress. As such, you're the only one who could have grabbed a gun and been in a position to shoot Lorenzo,"

Michiru huffed. "That's ridiculous! There's no way I would ever do such a thing!"

"Unless, of course, you saw that note," Daquan pointed out.

"I didn't even see the note!" Michiru pointed out.

"Wait a minute..." I thought for a second. I decided to remember what Michiru was saying here. "Saeko, what's Michiru's breast size?" I asked her.

Saeko's eyes lit up. "Oh! Her bust is 89 centimeters! That's only one size above Yuki's!"

"What? How do you know that?" Michiru asked her. "There's no way that isn't just a lucky guess!"

I was putting more pieces together in this case. "Michiru, this means that you could have purposely shrunken your bra in the washing machine and written Yuki's name on it! And if you did that... that means you had to have seen Lorenzo's note in the washing machine!"

Michiru gulped. "N-No... that's simply not at all true!"

"Yeah..." Masaki began, scratching his chin. "And the times Saeko saw you, as well as the times on the heater and on the washing machine, all line up as well. It's why the washing machine and dryer were stopped early. And if you had access to Toko's room, you also had access to Yuki's room. Allowing you to set Yuki up perfectly,"

Michiru huffed again. "I swear, I'm _not_ the killer!"

 **Phase 5: Panic Talk Action**

Michiru turned my way and instantly screamed at me.

"This is preposterous! Preposterous, I say! I would never kill another student! Not after I had spent so long saying I'd protect everyone!" Michiru shouted out.

I stood there, ignoring Michiru's baseless claims and waiting for her to say something which I could actually refute.

"I can't believe you'd accuse me of such a vile act! Such a heinous, disturbing, immoral act such as murder!"

I continued just listening to all the things she was saying. Eventually, she would have to crack.

"Y-You're just- you-" Michiru was red in the face and sweating bullets, but she it seemed she was all out of things to say. She took a deep breath and leaned back... and then, she leaned forward again. "If I really had a gun to kill Lorenzo with, where did I put it, hmm?"

I remembered - the gun was nowhere to be found. The most logical answer was back in Toko's room, but Michiru never went back in there during the investigation. Then, I looked at the book underneath her shoulder.

IN - THE - BOOK'S - PAGES

"I've got it!" I called out. "Michiru... can we see your book?"

Michiru gasped. "M-My book? Why?"

Masaki shrugged. "Y'know, if you really didn't do it, then you would have no reason not to show it to us,"

Michiru sighed and opened up the book under her arm, and a large square had been cut out of the book's pages. Inside the empty square was none other than a pistol.

 **Phase 6: Climax Reasoning:**

"Alright, I've cracked this case!" I began. I thought about every single detail of this murder, and how it happened in order. "This case begins before 8:00 p.m. Lorenzo snapped and put in effect a plan for murder - who he was going to murder was unclear, but he wrote his plans down so that he would not forget. During Amy-chan's concert, he and someone else went back inside the train to check on everyone who was not present.

"Then, to destroy his evidence, Lorenzo offered to clean some dirty laundry, with his plan inside. By chance, someone walked into the laundry room, opened up the washing machine, and found the only partially-destroyed note inside. That's when their plan begins. They put their bra into the dryer on its highest setting, to shrink it down.

"Lorenzo went into Utamuro's room to hang out with him while he worked on Amy-chan's dress. Taking advantage of Utamuro's occupancy, Lorenzo grabbed the knife from his shirt and walked out, looking for an unsuspecting victim.

"Knowing that they had little time to end Utamuro's plan, the killer turned on the heater and placed Yuki's Shaun White poster and a gun inside the TV room, setting a trap. Sen stumbled upon the poster and ran outside to inform Yuki, who went inside to retrieve said poster. Inside the boiling heat, Yuki passed out, giving Lorenzo an opening.

"Of course, this was all part of the murderer's plan. Two rooms across, the killer had a gun with them. Just as Lorenzo was about to make his move, the killer fired their gun, killing Lorenzo instantly. Then they put the gun away into their book, hiding it from the rest of us. Isn't that right... Michiru Rakuyama?"

 **Trial End:**

Michiru sighed. "Yes... you figured it all out," She muttered to us.

Monokuma jumped down from his chair. "The trial is over! Let the voting begin!" He called out. Suddenly, a keyboard with everyone's face appeared in front of us. "Just press the face of the person you think is the killer!"

Without any sort of hesitation, I pressed the button of Michiru's face. It seemed that everyone else did too.

"I suppose it was inevitable," Michiru muttered to herself. "All I wanted... was to protect all of you."

Yuki scowled. "Your plan involved putting me directly in danger! If you were a little slower, I could be dead right now!"

Michiru sighed again. "I know... but I did what I had to do,"

"If you were just trying to protect us, then why did you defend yourself so much? If you'd convinced us you weren't the killer, you'd go home free while the rest of us would die!" Hideki asked her.

"Monokuma didn't tell us that until Lorenzo was dead," Michiru replied. "And also... I just know more trials like this are going to happen in the future. People a lot more convincing than myself. I simply wanted to test you all to make sure you could figure it out," She pushed her glasses up and sighed.

"Oh man, talk about a plot twist!" Tomoe called out. "That was... something I wasn't expecting."

"Just one last question," asked Masaki. "I know you're the Ultimate Scholar, and as such, you're really good at everything, but how did you get the aim to take down Lorenzo in just one shot?" He asked her.

Michiru sighed again. "You see... when I was 13 years old, an intelligence agency took interest in my IQ and my talents. They trained me to be good at everything - math, science, physical education, self-defense, you name it. One of those things they taught me... was gun handling."

Toko gasped. "Yer a gunslinger too?!"

Michiru nodded. "Perhaps not the sharpest shooter in town, but my assets made me invaluable to the agency. I've assassinated several political figures in my life, all at the request of the agency,"

All of us stood there in silence. Michiru, an agent and an assassin? Who would have ever thought? She just seemed like a regular, overachiever schoolgirl.

"And I do it... all because I want to protect others. Not everyone can be me. I'm me... so that everyone else can be them. And if someone like Lorenzo were to pose a threat to all of us, then it would be up to me to deal with him," Michiru admitted.

Yuki growled at her. "I'm still not gonna forgive you for using me as a pawn in your little plan,"

Michiru sighed. "Okay. I'll just take solace in knowing that at least I did my job,"

"Does she have to die?!" I cried out. I could feel the tears dripping down my face as I realized that Michiru was now set to be executed. "She just wanted to protect us..."

Monokuma jumped up again. "Now, the votes have been decided!" A large roulette wheel lowered from the ceiling behind all of us, with pixilated versions of all of our faces on the screen. A ball rolled around it for a few seconds before it landed on Michiru's face. That's when the roulette wheel disappeared, and a black screen appeared in its place. Red pixels appeared onscreen, depicting Monokuma and Michiru. Red text was displayed above, reading,

"Michiru Rakuyama has been found guilty."

"I've prepared a _special_ execution for Michiru Rakuyama, the Ultimate Scholar!" Monokuma cheered. What happened next... was something none of us would ever forget.

 **Execution:**

 _Shred of Knowledge:_

Michiru's eyes darted back-and-forth as a large crane claw-machine burst from a door behind Michiru, and instantly gasped around her neck. It pulled her behind the door, and suddenly the walls dropped down, leaving only a transparent window between us and her. Michiru was being suspended above a school desk, and she was wriggling her legs and pushing at the crane to get free. Then, a wave of cold air enveloped the room as a layer of frost developed around her body.

With her eyes still darting side-to-side, Michiru's body couldn't even move. Suddenly, two large, metallic walls closed in on Michiru, seeming to encase her completely... then the pulled back, to show that she was inside the frame of a book. I gasped - my heart pounded from the anticipation of what was going to happen. How was she going to be killed?!

Then, the floor seemed to open up. Two metallic, cylindrical objects rose upward, with protruding spikes spinning around rapidly. I gasped, trying to look away as they closed in on Michiru, shredding through the book, and... through her. Blood and paper was sent flying everywhere as the disgusting _whirr!_ sound rang throughout. After a few seconds, the shredders dropped down. All that remained were the shreds of paper and bloody mess around the area, with no recognizable part of Michiru to speak of.

I would never forget the horrors which I witnessed that day.

 **Post-Trial:**

"Wow..." Rai muttered to himself. "I... I don't know what to say to that..."

"Yeah..." Tame replied, scratching her head. "That was... brutal."

We didn't really have much else to say as we took the elevator back up to the train, with everyone seeming a little bit more depressed than usual. No one said a thing until we all walked back to our rooms, at which point Masaki stopped me.

"Hey, Kanon?" Masaki began.

"What is it?" I replied, not really being in much of a talking mood.

Masaki shrugged. "I just wanted to say, you... you didn't do anything wrong, okay?"

I could feel a tear running down my eye as Masaki said that. "I just... I could have stopped her..."

Masaki took me in an embrace and patted my back. I went speechless as I felt his warm arms, his soft hands. "It's okay. There wasn't anything you could do. If you hadn't exposed her, then... we'd all be dead. Don't listen to the bad thoughts, because they'll just keep you in despair. You need to have hope. Please, Kanon. Have hope. Even when it looks like there's no hope left."

I wiped a tear off my face as Masaki told me all this. "O-Okay," I replied. "Th-thank you, Masaki."

He let go of me as he headed to his room. "We'll talk later," He told me. "Tonight, we should both get some sleep,"

I nodded, hoping I wasn't blushing too much. I went back into my room, and even though I was mentally exhausted, I couldn't really sleep too well. What I had seen was just far too hard for me to sleep with right now. The image of Lorenzo's dead body and Michiru's unrecognizable remains were burned into my mind. There was no way I could let this happen again.

CHAPTER 1 END

SURVIVING STUDENTS: 22


	8. Chapter 2: Second Stop

I woke up the next morning, though I was still rather exhausted from the events of the previous day. It still hadn't completely sunk in that Lorenzo and Michiru were dead. All I could do now was just hope no one else would meet the same fate as those other two. After all, life aboard this train wasn't so bad? Monokuma's presence aside, that is. I had gotten used to everyone here, even Kaemon! To an extent, at least. I just didn't think I could stomach the thought of any more deaths. I shuddered as the image of Lorenzo's corpse flashed in my brain, and then the image of Michiru's splattered remains. There was no way I could let that happen again.

As I stood up and got changed into my clothing, I saw the screen in the corner of my room flicker on, with Monokuma sitting in his chair and giving me his dastardly grin once more. Every time I looked at that face, I could only see the face of a sadistic ringleader who wanted us all to die.

"It is now morning!" Monokuma exclaimed. "Get ready for another fun and exciting day upon the Monokuma Express!" After finishing the morning announcement, the screen turned off. I sighed, gathering my phone and camera as I stepped outside of my room and back onto the train. Even though Michiru was gone, I figured it would still be a good idea to meet up with everyone in the dining room. While I wouldn't think anyone would be despicable enough to attempt murder the day after one occurred, I still had to be on my guard.

I yawned as I walked past the main room of the train, and that's when I realized that the train was moving again. I guess we were going to a new stop now? I wished I had gotten more time to spend at the garden, but I supposed this was just fine as well. I was looking forward to whatever stop we would arrive at, though I still couldn't shake the feeling that any of us could turn into killers at any moment. Lorenzo and Michiru seemed harmless enough...

Taking a breath, I sat down in a seat in the main room again. I knew that going to the dining room was probably a better idea, but right now I just needed to take my mind off of things. I wasn't sure exactly how ready I was to face everyone else quite yet. I leaned my head backward as I heard some footsteps approaching - I initially got a little excited at first, figuring it could have been Masaki, until I remembered that he rarely ever wore shoes.

"Oh, hey Kanon!" I heard from behind me. I saw Azizah walking by, supposedly heading toward the dining room. She smiled at me and pushed up her glasses. "What are you doing here, sitting all by yourself?" Azizah asked me.

I yawned again. "I'm just kinda tired," I replied. "Last night really... it did things to me."

Azizah nodded and sat down across from me. "You know, I understand that feeling," she told me, looking down and clasping her hands. "I don't really know what else to say or do besides, I know that while things may not be so good now, that doesn't mean things won't ever get better," She told me. "I'm a lot better with wires and electricity than I am with words or people, but... you know, it's hard to help when tragedy strikes, but I guess I can try,"

I sighed, then looked up and smiled at Azizah. She was certainly helping me out, even if she didn't necessarily believe that herself. "Hey, thanks," I told her, nodding as I forced a smile. Azizah shrugged and smiled back.

"Do not stress too much about it," Azizah reassured me. "It is not an issue for me whatsoever,"

I nodded, still a little tired to think of something to say. No matter what reassuring words I heard from Azizah, the images of Lorenzo and Michiru in their deceased states continued flashing back into my mind. My heart would stop every time, and my skin would crawl, my muscles would tense, and my pores would sweat profusely. There was no way something like this could happen again... right?

"Oh, that reminds me," Azizah suddenly piped up, standing up and heading toward the back of the train. "We have to meet up with everybody else, remember?"

"Right!" I replied, shaking my head and forgetting about the horrific sights I had witnessed just last night. "Let's go!"

Azizah and I made our way to the food room, where everyone else was already seated. They were in basically the same position as last time, and this time there was no one taking attendance.

"Morning, Kanon and Azizah!" Masaki called out to us with a smile on his face. How could he be smiling after something like last night? I suppose Azizah had smiled to me earlier, but she had just been trying to keep my spirits up. Still, Masaki's warm smile was enough to bring a smile to my own face. He was just so cool, unfazed by anything, even death itself. While I was brought to a crying mess, Masaki didn't even seem to be moved at all.

"Good morning to you, Masaki!" Azizah replied, sitting down at the end of the table. I took my seat next to Masaki just like yesterday.

"M-morning!" I greeted him, trying not to sound nervous.

"So... we're here..." Utamuro muttered. Unlike yesterday, where he was a lot more outgoing, Utamuro was looking down at the table and his words were softly spoken. His face was blank and expressionless. I guess he was taking Lorenzo's death pretty badly...

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Hideki slammed his hands onto the table and stood straight up. "Alright, I'm sick of waiting. Without Michiru here, we need to figure out a new leader. For starters, I nominate myself," Hideki announced. I looked at him and raised my eyebrow, a bit skeptical of his abilities as a leader.

"Umm... not to sound contrarian, but you're a policeman. Your entire job revolves around taking orders from authorities. I don't really know how well you'd work as a leader," Hikooki replied to him. "If anything, we need someone with charisma, someone with intelligence, someone who can organize us,"

Saeko's eyes lit up as soon as Hikooki finished his sentence. "Like a collection! You want to have everyone organized in exactly the way you left them, and you want to make sure everyone is in line!"

Daquan scratched his head for a second before giving a nod. "You know, that sounds a little authoritarian... but in times like these, maybe authoritarianism isn't such a bad thing," Daquan mused. "Sometimes you just gotta use force,"

Tame gave Daquan a funny look and then turned down her music. "Hey now, Monokuma's already pulling our strings. We don't need _more_ people controlling us, y'know,"

"I concur," Kenji agreed, crossing his arms and giving a short nod. "While good morals are an indicator of a strong will, an iron fist breaks more than it bends,"

"Who said that one?" I asked him. It was a pretty good quote, perhaps I would use it in the future.

"I did," He replied.

After some more long silence, we heard a childish giggle coming from the corner of the room. We all turned our heads to see Aiko, covering her mouth with her sleeve and giggling.

"You're all just so precious~!" Aiko cooed. "It seems that... though you may not want a leader, you perhaps need some... _direction_ ," she noted.

Shiro raised their eyebrow at Aiko. "What are you going on about this time?" They asked her.

Aiko giggled again, until her giggle turned into fake evil laughter again. "Oh, Shiro... a mage such as yourself should understand that which I am speaking about-"

"I'm not a mage!" Shiro defended. "Stop calling me one!"

Aiko ignored Shiro's words as usual, before pulling out a short, cylindrical purple candle from out of her shirt pocket and lighting it with a match. Strangely, the flame turned a dark purple rather than a bright orange like usual. "Before we begin, I'd like to say that I could organize every single one of us into the Dark Siblinghood of Aiko. We'd be a stronger unit than ever~"

Most of us went silent upon hearing Aiko's proposal. There was certainly something... _off_ about her.

Rai shrugged his shoulders. "I mean, yeah, she's a little creepy... but she has a point. Clouds must organize in order to make rain. I think Aiko could make a good leader if we just give her a chance," Rai suggested.

"Hey!" Kaemon objected. "Who says a _man_ can't lead?"

Rai chuckled nervously at Kaemon's notion. "Actually, no one ever said a man _couldn't_ lead, just that-"

Kaemon banged his fists on the table. "I'm tired of this politically correct bullshit! Your eligibility as a leader should be based on charisma and motivation, not on some feminazi agenda-"

Before Kaemon could finish his sentence, Yuki punched him in the side of his face. Kaemon's glasses fell off, breaking as they hit the ground.

"Shut the fuck up!" Yuki shouted at Kaemon. He ducked onto the ground, searching for his glasses.

"You'll pay for that, you stupid bitch!" Kaemon yelled at Yuki, still fumbling around on the ground.

"Whoa, who knew you had it in you?" asked Guadalupe, smiling at Yuki. "I was just about to go do that myself, but then you went ahead and did it for me!"

Masaki sighed and stood up. "Alright, look. We can bicker and argue all we want, but we'll make no progress if we don't brainstorm for a bit," he stated, trying to get us all on track. "What we need is someone intelligent, someone charismatic, someone motivated. Someone like Michiru was,"

"Oh, Masaki!" Asa called out, raising her hand. "Dear Masaki, you are quite the charismatic persona yourself. Plus you helped out tremendously in that trial last night,"

As jealous as I was of Asa for calling this to attention before I could, she had a point. Of all of us, Masaki was among the most laid-back and organized. Plus, with the massive help he was in the previous trial, he had the potential to really get us on track.

"Yeah, I have to agree with Asa," Ryo concurred. "Honestly, Masaki could probably say anything and we'd all listen to him,"

Dammit, Ryo! I liked Ryo a lot and all, but now everyone was saying all the things I wanted to say to Masaki! There was no way he'd see anything I said as anything special now...

Masaki chuckled to himself before leaning back in his chair. "Nah... trust me, I'd make a terrible leader. I'm a bad influence on people. I'm not the kind of person you'd want leading all of you, trust me,"

"Ha!" Hideki laughed, crossing his arms. "Of course you'd make a terrible leader. You all shouldn't organize behind a criminal like Masaki,"

"Hey!" I protested, standing up out of my seat. "Masaki is sweet and gentle! But he's also motivated and organized! He keeps our best interests at heart! Someone like him is a good fit to be a leader!"

Masaki sighed, but was wearing a calm smile on my face as I finished that sentence. "I'm flattered, but you don't need to defend me," He replied to me. "In a sense... Hideki's right. In fact, I had a better idea for a leader,"

"Is it me?" asked Hideki.

"I think he's referring to the one and only Dark Lady~" Aiko replied.

"Are you talking about no one at all?" asked Kenji.

Masaki shook his head at all of those. "I'm referring to Kanon,"

I jumped a bit as Masaki finished that sentence. Immediately, the rest of the group began conversing with themselves about the idea.

"I don't mind it," Azizah replied. "Kanon helped out just as much,"

"Ohhhh, Kanon would make the most _kawaii desu_ leader there is! She's just like a student council president in school anime!" Amy-chan squealed.

I tilted my head at Amy-chan. "Well, I don't really think physical appearance should decide one's status as a leader..."

"All in favor of Kanon as our leader?" Utamuro asked. Everyone except Rai, Aiko, Hideki, Kaemon, Kenji, and Tame raised their hands. In response, Masaki pushed his chair backward and stood up. I was still trying to process all of it - why would anyone want _me_ as a leader? What did I bring to the table that, say, Masaki didn't? There was no way I could live up to Michiru.

"Alright then," Masaki began, clasping his hands together. "Anyone who's not in favor, care to explain your reasoning?"

Aiko went first, giggling a bit before she stood up and blew out her candle. "Why, I simply believe someone like myself would simply be a better leader~" Aiko replied. "After all... if they won't listen to Dark Lady Aiko, then they won't listen to anybody~!"

Rai nodded in agreement, taking a moment to adjust his glasses. "I concur," He replied. "The darkest clouds hold the most rain, you know,"

Shiro shook their head. "Rai, she's clearly not right in the head," They told him, rolling their eyes.

Hikooki sighed in response. "Come on, Rai. You can't act like you're not a _little_ bit scared of her,"

Rai huffed and looked down, unable to reply to Shiro and Hikooki for a few seconds. "I guess you're right..." He replied.

"Okay, that's cleared up... I already know why Hideki and Kaemon are opposed..." Masaki mumbled. "Ah, Tame, Kenji! Why are you opposed to Kanon being our new leader?"

Kenji crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "I don't like the idea of a singular human being the driving force to our cause. While authority has its time and place, Kanon is neither an elder nor a scholar. She is unable to fill the same role Michiru did,"

"Hey!" Yuki called out. "We don't need someone like Michiru! We need someone to guide us!"

Kenji just gave a quiet "Hmph." and crossed his arms again. "That is simply my own opinion on the matter. Feel free to engage in discourse with me,"

Tame cleared her throat and pressed a button on her headphones. Suddenly, the J-pop song blaring throughout the room turned off. "I was just gonna say, Kanon doesn't like... seem like a leader, y'know?" She expressed. "No offense to you, Kanon, I just kinda think someone more, uh... how do I say it... grown-up would make a better leader,"

Hideki chuckled again. "Well, I do have experience enforcing authority, so if we're talking qualifications, I think I win there,"

Kenji nodded at Tame's suggestion, and then spoke up again. "I was thinking that perhaps Hikooki could be our leader, seeing as how he is the oldest one of us,"

Hikooki raised an eyebrow for a second, and nodded. "I mean... that's not something I'm necessarily opposed to," He replied, scratching his chin for a second.

"That's a great idea!" Rai concurred. "I mean, you might not have the same charisma Aiko does, but as far as seniority goes, you're the best! Plus, I have mad respect for anyone with as much love for the skies as I do,"

"Hold on a minute!" Masaki interjected. "If this discourse keeps up, we'll _never_ figure out a leader in time!" He then sat down and sighed. "You know what, maybe we don't need a leader right now. We'll figure that out as we go along,"

I looked down at the table and let out a sigh, partially of relief and partially of disappointment. It was relieving that I wouldn't have to bear the responsibility of being the leader of our group, but it was also disappointing because I was starting to mentally prepare myself for it should the occasion arise. Otherwise, I was completely fine with Masaki or Hikooki being the leader - just as long as it wasn't Hideki or Aiko.

After a brief moment of awkward silence between the 22 of us, we heard a loud "Ding!" ring throughout the train. Then Monokuma's face appeared on the monitor in the corner. Every single one of us turned our heads to face the monitor.

"We have reached our second stop!" Monokuma announced. "We here at the Monokuma Express hope you enjoy your _cool_ stay!" The monitor then turned off as the train stopped. I wondered what sort of place we were at now?

"Well, no time to discuss anything now," Masaki stated, pushing his seat back and standing up. "Why don't we go explore this new place?" He suggested. Every one of us got up as we walked outside the train, and stepped foot in the new location.

This second stop seemed to be situated on a snowy mountainside, with a wooden lodge serving as the station. A small coffee machine stood in front of the train, and a row of wooden pillars held up the roof (also made of wood). Beyond the lodge, a layer of blindingly white snow covered the ground. Oddly enough, no visible snowflakes were falling. A few pine trees were scattered about, also devoid of snow atop the green for some reason.

"Aw, hell yeah!" Yuki blurted out, rushing into the snow. "It's too soft for snowboarding in, but it's nice to finally be in the cold again!"

I suddenly began to shiver as I realized - this place was _cold_! My legs in particular were exposed to the cold air, with nothing to cover them except my skirt and socks. "Th-this place is freezing!"

Rai chuckled a bit at my statement. "Well, technically speaking, the snow here is a little too soft for it to be entirely freezing here. I'd say it's around four or five degrees here, but it's certainly not _freezing_." He pushed his glasses up and gave a smug grin, as if he was proud of that joke he made.

"Ha, _ha_." I replied, rolling my eyes at Rai. "Where can I get some pants?"

"Miss Amari, I do recall us having a change of clothing inside of our rooms, do we not?" Sen asked me, approaching from behind. I jumped a bit, as I was not quite expecting him to sneak up on me like that.

I gave a nervous chuckle. "To be honest... I don't usually wear pants. When I have to get on the ground to take pictures, pants become a little inconvenient,"

"Hmm... you expose yourself to the elements that way. I do not recommend it for your health," He advised me. I raised an eyebrow and scratched my head, being a little confused. A bit unnerved, even.

Before Sen could say anything else, Masaki walked up to my side. "Don't worry about it. I've got a pair of women's jeans somewhere," He informed me. "Probably something in your size, too,"

"Wait, really?" I asked. How did he acquire a pair of women's jeans? That was a little bit suspicious. "Why do you have women's jeans?"

Masaki shrugged. "When you're a master thief, you kinda have to take whatever you can get your hands on. Especially where I grew up," Before I had the chance to ask Masaki anything else, he ran back up into the train in a flash.

"Man, he's fast..." I muttered to myself. I guess he had to be fast in order to get away with thievery.

I was about to head up to the train with him, but Hideki suddenly grabbed my shoulder from behind. I jumped at his touch, freezing in position completely. I turned around to look at his intimidating, cold grin.

"I wouldn't follow him if I were you," Hideki suggested to me. "Guys like him are troublesome. Good girls like you shouldn't be following thieves,"

I stooped downward and pushed Hideki's arm off of my shoulder. "Masaki's my friend... he wouldn't lead me down the same path he walks..." I muttered to Hideki, trying not to stutter over my words. My heart raced as he glared at me, his eyes shielded by his the light from the snow reflecting off of his sunglasses.

After a few seconds of him staring me down, Hideki gave a laugh and turned away. "Friend..." He scoffed, walking toward the lodge. "He doesn't care about you. Save yourself while you can,"

I huffed, now fuming with rage. Something about Hideki made me so... _angry_. It seemed that when I was around him, he was scary, and when I wasn't around him, he was infuriating.

I went back inside the train and saw Masaki standing in the doorway, holding a pair of black leggings. "Here, I found these," Masaki stated, handing me the leggings. They felt soft and silky, and while not necessarily thick, they would definitely keep my legs warm in this cold. "Aw, thanks!" I replied to him.

"It's not a problem," He replied, nodding his head. I rushed to my room and changed into the new leggings. They itched a little bit, but it was a small price to pay for a little bit of leg warmth.

The two of us went outside to see Monokuma and Kaemon at the base of the train. It seemed that everyone else had taken off already.

"Have you two had your _fun_ yet?" Monokuma asked us, with his eye glowing. Masaki, Kaemon, and I all took a step back as Monokuma's face turned red with anger. My face went red too, but for a different reason.

What did he think Masaki and I were doing, exactly?

"Dude, move outta the way, I gotta record," Kaemon requested. Monokuma turned to him and raised a fist.

"Listen up, porky! I make the rules right now! And I say, no one's allowed back onto the train until you all have spent an hour out here with each other, alright?! I'm getting some things ready for tomorrow..." Masaki and I jumped down from the train as Monokuma jumped inside, closing the door behind him.

"Fuck you too!" Kaemon shouted out. "Fine then... I can handle losing a subscriber... or two... or five..." He muttered to himself.

"What are you going off about?" Masaki asked him.

"Shut up," Kaemon responded. "I wouldn't expect a casual like you to understand,"

Masaki shrugged and walked away. I followed suit, as Kaemon was the last person I would want to be stuck hanging around.

The two of us headed toward the lodge. An air of warmth surrounded us as we approached, offering some relief from the frosty chill of this new stop. A wooden bench long enough to was placed at the face of the lodge, though nobody was sitting there at the moment. It looked roughly long enough to seat two average-sized people. Masaki sat down on the left side and patted the empty right side, as if motioning for me to sit down next to him. I blushed a bit at his gesture, trying to hide a nervous giggle. I sat next to him, trying to keep my cool.

 _Just act natural, Kanon._ I thought to myself. Masaki just stared into the distance, though all I could see was a woodwork of tall evergreens in the distance preceded by a layer of sleet with a variety of footprints riddled about on the surface. I kept trying to say something to Masaki, but I kept freezing in place. What would I even talk to him about? Even if I did manage to start a conversation with him, I knew it wouldn't be anything more than a forced conversation. Something to take our minds off of the atrocities of yesterday's deaths.

"You know, there's something about snow that really is beautiful," Masaki mentioned, out of the blue. It seemed like a ridiculous thing to say, but I guess even someone as cool-headed as Masaki had to scrape the bottom of the barrel for a conversation topic sometimes.

"What do you mean by that?" I muttered to him, trying to seem calm. He could probably see right through me, he was just that good.

Masaki shrugged. "I'm not sure. It's just so cool how water falls from the sky and it's just so cold that it literally freezes before it hits the ground, and creates a layer of soft, frozen raindrops on the ground. It's like a metaphor for rebirth."

I chuckled a bit. What was he even saying? Did he intend for that to be deep? And when did he suddenly decide to become some combination of Kenji and Rai?

Despite how bizarre his wording came out, there was something oddly charming about it. Of course, I found just about everything charming about Masaki.

"Yeah, you're right about that," I replied to the Ultimate Thief. He nodded along.

"Really? I just kinda made that up as I went," He replied to me.

After a few minutes of silence, I felt hands and feet going numb, despite having shoes on. I had no clue how Yuki was able to handle it - it was far too cold out here for anyone to function! And she says that this isn't even that cold?! She was ridiculous.

"Hey Kanon, you cold?" Masaki asked me. He placed a hand on my shoulder. I gasped in surprise, jumping at just the touch of his hand.

"Uh... k-kinda?" I replied, feigning a smile. Okay, now I _knew_ that he wasn't buying it. What was he going to do now? Was he going to wrap his arms around me and share his body heat with me? I knew that huddling together for warmth was one of the most efficient ways for people to heat up during cold weather.

"Don't worry, I've got just the thing for that," Masaki replied. Expecting him to embrace me, I leaned in and tried to hug him first. Unfortunately, he just stood up and raised an eyebrow at me before I could. "Kanon, what are you doing?"

I made a quiet "eep!" sound as I covered my mouth in shame. "N-Nothing, I just..." Fuck, I couldn't think of anything to say. Nothing I could say would sound good! Of course he'd only think of me as someone clingy...

"I'm going inside. I'm certain it's a lot warmer in there," Masaki informed me. "Wanna come with?" He asked me. I was still sitting down, my face still flushed from my blushing.

"I-I'll be right in there..." I mumbled to him, too embarrassed to do so much as even look him in the eye. "Wait, what about Hideki?" I asked him.

Masaki shrugged. "I guess I'll just deal with him. He doesn't really scare me, in all honesty." He walked off and headed inside the lodge. I got up off the bench and was about to head in there myself, but then I heard Yuki call my name out.

"Hey, Kanon!" Yuki called out to me. "Why you goin' in, huh?" She asked me. Guadalupe was right behind her, and wearing a large green, puffy jacket and sweatpants.

"Yeah, why don't you enjoy the outdoors like us? Shouldn't you be taking photographs?"

I mean, Guadalupe had a point. I hadn't really taken a lot of photographs since the picture of the Monokuma statue I took back at the garden. I remembered that Sen told me it would cure my fear of the Monokuma statue, but even with these casual conversations, I still felt that looming fear that he was always watching over us.

"Hey Yuki, watch out!" Guadalupe called out suddenly. I got my camera ready, and snapped a photograph as Guadalupe chucked a snowball at Yuki's stomach. Yuki gave a chuckle as the snowball broke into pieces, and tackled her into the snow. It seemed like the two of them were having so much fun, though I was simply not physically active enough to join them.

I let the two of them roughhouse as I walked around the stop. Even though there would inevitably be some blockade preventing us from leaving, part of me had a growing curiosity in seeing what else was around.

I wandered off north of the lodge. After a few minutes of walking, I noticed a few snowmen of varying heights standing upward.

"Aw look, snowmen! They're so cute-" Before I could finish my sentence, I heard a loud "BANG!". In a reflex, I covered my head and ears as the snowman's head fell off and the body was turned into snowy pieces.

"Watch yerself!" I heard Toko in the distance. Saeko, Daquan, Aiko, Rai, and Hikooki were with them, and all of them were standing atop a hill.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I shouted at them. I dashed to the hill to meet up with them as Toko put their pistol away.

"Hey, Toko was just showing off their awesome skills!" Saeko replied to me, staunchly defending Toko. "Did you know they have a sweet gun collection? I heard they have Teddy Roosevelt's shotgun! It's priceless!"

"Huh?" Something like that wasn't just a collectible! It was an artifact of historical value! How would either Toko or Saeko get their hands on something like that?

Guess that was simply the power of an Ultimate Gunslinger and an Ultimate Collector.

I finally made my way to the top of the hill after trudging upward through the snow. My legs began to ache, as I simply was not used to this sort of strenuous activity. "Ow..." I groaned as I sat down atop a large, rough rock positioned behind everyone else.

"Ah, Kanon, have you come to watch us engage in the ritual?" Aiko asked me.

"What? Ritual?" I asked Aiko.

Rai turned to me and nodded. "Yep! Dark Lady Aiko here is holding a meeting for all of us!" He replied to me. He had a certain excitement in his eyes about this. Just what about this was so exhilarating to him?

"What? You never mentioned this before," Hikooki replied. "And at any rate, I thought I told you not to get me involved in this?"

Aiko giggled at Hikooki's comment. "Any and all are welcome into the Dark Siblinghood of Aiko!" She replied to him, doing a little twirl before flashing a wide grin. "That includes you, mister grumpy pants!"

Hikooki sighed, looking up at the sky. "I'm gonna pretend like I didn't hear that," He mumbled to himself. "Why did all of you drag me over here again?"

"'Cuz ya don't know how to have fun, that's why!" Toko replied to him. "So why not hang with us for some time, huh?"

Daquan nodded. "Yeah, man! No need to be all sad all the time. You gotta take time for yourself sometimes!"

Hikooki gave a short chuckle at Daquan's sentiment. "Hey, thanks," He replied.

"So why not relax, and unwind a bit? I can explain to you in vast detail what each general shape of snowflake means," Rai stated.

"Oooooh, can you tell the mood of mother nature by simply examining each snowflake?" Aiko asked him.

Rai chuckled a bit, nervously scratching the back of his head. "Well, kinda. I wouldn't call it a _mood_ , but I certainly understand how it relates to temperature, humidity, moisture, distance from the ground, and more!" He replied to Aiko. "Wanna hear all about it?"

Aiko gasped and gave another grin in Rai's direction. "I'd love to hear all about your mystical arts!" She replied to him. "Please, explain to me in grandiose detail how mother nature forms and molds its snow!

Hikooki gave a sigh, as if saying "Oh no, here they go again." and sat down. I would have taken a picture, but as Toko had destroyed the snowmen, there simply wasn't much to see over here. I walked away, heading down the hill and toward a different wooden, rectangular building It was around the same size as the lodge, though it lacked the bench that the lodge had in front of it. With my curiosity, piqued, I opened the door and looked inside.

In the building was stored plenty of different materials for outdoor, snowy activities. Jackets, gloves, and sweatpants were hung up and different beanies were placed on hat racks. Snowboards, skis, ice skates, and ice cleats were stacked in different areas as well.

"Whoa, Monokuma really hooked us up..." I muttered to myself. Tame was sitting on a seat positioned by the door, doodling something in her sketchbook. "Oh, hey Tame!"

She didn't reply to me, as she was still drowning me out in her headphones.

"Tame?"

After a few seconds, she turned down her headphones and looked back at me. "Oh, hey Kanon," She muttered to me, looking back at her drawing.

"What are you drawing right now?" I asked her, trying to peek at her sketchbook.

"Hey!" She moved her sketchbook out of my field of vision. "No, I'm not going to show you! I-It's not finished yet!" She snapped at me. Her face went a bright red. "I'm just waiting for Kenji..."

"Where did he go?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow.

Tame shrugged. "See that door right there?" She asked, pointing at a door in the right-hand corner. "He and Ryo went in there a second ago, but they haven't gotten out yet. I wonder what they're doing in there?" She asked me.

"Well, we might need to go in there and take a look-" I replied to her, heading toward the door and turning the knob.

"No, wait!"

Before I could heed Tame's warning, I opened the door open to see Kenji and Ryo stripped down to nothing but black athletic boxers. The two of them were both very well-toned and muscular, and seeing them together really accentuated the height difference. I had to take a breath, as the sight of these two men was enough to send my heart aflutter.

"Th-that's why I told you not to go in..." Tame muttered to me. Kenji and Ryo turned to me with raised eyebrows.

"Please, this space is occupied," Kenji whispered, turning away from Tame and me.

"S-Sorry, maybe you should have knocked?" Ryo asked me. I closed the door, my arms shaking. I turned back to Tame, who was blushing even harder now.

"Wh-whoa, umm..." Tame was completely speechless. "Y-You saw the same thing I did, right?"

I nodded, similarly nervous as her. "L-let's not speak of this..." I whispered to her. After a few seconds of awkward nervousness, I walked out of the recreational room and headed back to the lodge. I walked inside the lodge, noticing several circular tables with chairs at them, a bar with several different foods available, and a hot chocolate dispenser.

"Huh, that's cool..." I poured myself a styrofoam cup of hot chocolate and sat down on a chair, and looked around. Hideki was standing against the wall, Utamuro and Amy-chan were sitting at the bar, Sen was writing something down at a table, Asa was handing out cookies, and Shiro and Masaki were sitting together. I was about to go join them, when suddenly Tomoe approached me.

"Hey, Kanon!" Tomoe called out to me. She poured herself some hot chocolate from the machine and took a drink. "What's up?"

I shrugged. "Oh, nothing, just kinda... I dunno... trying to take my mind off of yesterday, I guess," I replied to her. I took a sip from my hot chocolate. It had a creamy, smooth texture to it, though the taste was hardly worth writing home about.

"Nah, I get what you're saying," Tomoe replied. She gave a sigh and pushed her sunglasses back up. "This is sorta like that point in a movie where all the characters go through some big character development phase. Or well, some of us will, if Monokuma's right..." She trailed off.

I gave a sigh and looked down. I looked around at everyone still over here. Even if I didn't want to believe her, she was right. Not everyone here would survive, and that was all Monokuma's fault.

I looked over at Masaki. My heart skipped a beat, as I wanted nothing but for him to survive. He was my best friend here.

"Sorry, did I kill your mood?" Tomoe asked me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"I-It's okay..." I solemnly replied. "I just... you're right. I needed to come to grips with this eventually."

I walked up to the bar and took a seat next to Utamuro. The poor guy still looked distressed from yesterday.

"Utamuro-kun, cheer up!" Amy-chan called to him. She sprinkled glitter all over him, but that didn't seem to do much.

The Ultimate Clothing Designer gave a sigh. "Don't bother, it's not going to cheer me up..." He muttered to her. He had a bagel in his right hand, and would only take a bite a few seconds at a time. So Lorenzo's death really impacted him, didn't it?

"Come on, Utamuro-kun! You can't be sad about Lorenzo-kun forever, can you?" She asked him, poking his arm. "Wouldn't Lorenzo want you to keep going?"

Utamuro shook his head. "I'm not just upset about Lorenzo. I'm upset that he wanted to kill someone... It's true, I can't trust anyone here. How do I know that I can even trust you?"

Amy-chan gave a pout. "Don't do this! You're gonna make me _kanashi_ as well..." She trailed off, also looking down. I guess the sadness of one was enough to drain the happiness of many.

After a long silence, Asa stopped by us and handed us a plate of large cookies. "Hello! Why is everyone so glum?" She asked us.

As if the previous events had not even happened, Amy-chan's eyes lit up as she began to devour cookie after cookie. "Arigato gozaimasu!" Amy-chan shouted through a mouthful of cookies. I guess she just never changed.

"I don't wanna talk about it..." Utamuro replied to Asa.

"Oh..." Asa looked down in disappointment as she turned and looked to me. "Kanon, dear, what about you? You look rather cold. Do you ned to sit in here and warm up a little? I made cookies!"

I smiled at Asa. I wasn't really hungry, but perhaps I'd grab one or two. "Thanks," I replied to her. I needed to get out of there as soon as I could, because Utamuro was bumming me out. More so than even Hikooki did! _That_ was saying something.

I walked by the table Sen was sitting at. I would have said something, but I knew that he would probably just ignore me. He wasn't necessarily the talkative type, and I didn't think he ever really would be.

Before I could go to the table that Masaki and Shiro were sitting at, I felt the air in the lodge begin to heat up. "Huh?"

Azizah came running out of the corner of the room. "I just fixed the heater, it should start warming up in here much more!" She announced.

"Whoa, nice work!" I replied to her.

"It's not an issue at all! This was easy!" She bragged. "I don't want to brag too much, but even with the dusty old wires, this was a simple fix!"

Azizah and I sat down at the table with Masaki and Shiro at it. Masaki smiled at me as I sat down.

"Hey, you've been out a while," Masaki told me. "Where have you been?"

"I was just... exploring, hanging out with everyone else," I replied.

Shiro nodded. "Have you noticed something weird about the snow here?" They asked me.

"Huh?" I raised an eyebrow at them.

Shiro shook their head. "Sorry, I know that's kind of an odd question, but Masaki and I were talking about just how strange the snow here seems. It's soft and slush-like. There must be some chemical in the air causing all this... I wonder if Rai would know,"

Masaki chuckled and leaned back. "Please, nobody has the patience to listen to that guy ramble on. Except Hikooki, and I guess Aiko,"

Azizah nodded. "Yes, this place does seem rather strange... like how the lights and the heater haven't had any maintenance done in forever. I might have to spend a while fixing them, because as they stand now, they're a hazard to us,"

"A hazard?" asked Shiro.

"Mm-hmm! Letting wires grow old like this without replacing them is a fire hazard,"

Masaki nodded in response. "That makes sense. Leave it to Monokuma to do something like this..."

After a few seconds, Monokuma burst into the lodge.

"Hello, students!" Monokuma greeted all of us. "I see we're all having fun here! Well... that's no good, is it? In 10 minutes, I would like all of you to head back into the Monokuma Express, so we can have our next motive!"

Motive.

Of course.

He really wasn't going to let us forget.


	9. Chapter 2: Motive

We could not have been outside for longer than an hour, and Monokuma was already issuing a motive to us.

I suppose even entities like him could grow impatient.

There was a wave of silence as everyone present in the lodge eyed each other. While no one was saying anything, there was no doubt that the same nervousness which befell us yesterday had returned with a vengeance.

No one would kill again, not after what happened with Lorenzo and Michiru, right? Right?

"Hmm, it seems that not everyone is present..." Monokuma stated, scratching his chin. "Where are Yuki, Guadalupe, Rai, Aiko, Hikooki, Toko, Daquan, Kaemon, Saeko, Tame, Kenji, and Ryo?"

"Perhaps they are busy?" Sen suggested, looking up from his papers to answer Monokuma's question. Oh, I see how it was. He couldn't make time for any of us, but talking to Monokuma was alright. I scowled at him and looked away.

"Pipe down, Doctor Feelgood!" Monokuma snapped at Sen. "I don't care how busy you are, if you don't arrive in time, you're as good as dead!"

As soon as Monokuma finished his sentence, Yuki and Guadalupe rushed into the lodge. Yuki was read in the face and her signature sweater was drenched in her sweat. She was wobbling around, looking dizzy.

"Yuki!" Guadalupe called out, catching her before she could fall over onto the ground.

"Oh... sorry about that," Azizah apologized, giving a sheepish smile. "I... completely forgot, please forgive me,"

Yuki was simply too exhausted to reply to Azizah. "Just give her a sec, she'll probably wake up in a bit," Guadalupe assured us. "She always eventually wakes up,"

Seconds later, Tame, Kenji, and Ryo arrived.

"We here in time?" asked Ryo.

"I would suppose so, seeing as how we are not dead," Kenji replied. "Now that only leaves the group that went to the hill..." he muttered as he and Tame sat together at an empty table, with Ryo right behind them.

Only seconds later, Toko burst into the room, twirling a revolver around in their hand. "Alright, Monokuma, what have ya called us in for now?" They asked, sitting down at an empty table and putting their feet up.

Saeko, Rai, Daquan, Aiko, and Hikooki all entered the lodge. Rai, Hikooki, and Aiko sat our table as Saeko and Daquan sat with Toko.

"That leaves only one of us missing," Shiro noted. "Damn, I was just getting used to him not being around,"

"Who are you talking about?" Hikooki asked him.

"I think they're talking about... ugh, Kaemon," I replied. I scowled as the Ultimate Game Livestreamer came to my head, filling the room with his gross body odor and terrible rudeness. I cringed as I imagined Kaemon entering the room - part of me slightly hoped that he wouldn't show up and then be executed!

Masaki nodded. "Ah, I hate that guy,"

"Same here," Shiro replied.

Rai nodded. "That guy is annoying, he goes on about the same things all the time,"

Masaki chuckled a bit, trying to contain his laughter. Meanwhile, Azizah was looking down with a disapproving look on her face.

"Azizah? What's wrong?" Hikooki asked her.

Azizah shrugged. "I don't know, I guess... I think Kaemon has the potential to be a good person, I just think he needs to learn. He can get better, if he allows his heart to be nicer." She mumbled.

"Ah, yes!" Aiko piped up. "If only he can open up his heart, he can see for himself how much better the world becomes! The Dark Lady must first be accepted before she can come to one's aid,"

In the midst of Aiko's rambling, Kaemon burst through the doors, drenched in sweat like Yuki. He was panting and trying to catch his breath as he slumped over on the floor. "Sorry, I was just saving my game," He apologized. "Am I in time?"

Monokuma gave his signature eerie chuckle. "Upupu! You're just in time! If you had been even a minute late, I would have you executed by now!"

Kaemon cursed under his breath and sat down at a table. He glared at all of us and turned away.

"Now then, I would like you all to meet me in the dining room of the Monokuma Express, and there, you shall receive your next motive!" Monokuma announced. My only question was, why was he giving us a motive after not even having been here for a few hours? Was he eager to push a motive already?

"A motive? S-So early?!" Amy-chan shrieked. "No, I can't! This is definitely _not_ sugoi!" She wailed in an over-exaggerated fashion, even if she was being genuine about not wanting to kill anyone else.

Monokuma growled at Amy-chan and jumped on a table. "Excuse me, but which of us is the headmaster here? If you aren't the headmaster, you don't get a say in how we run the Killing School Tour!" He scolded her. "Ahem. Now, if you would be so kind as to meet me back inside of the Monokuma Express, we can get things underway without me having to kill any of you for breaking rules!" Before anyone could reply, Monokuma exited the lounge. We all looked at each other one last time, though nobody said anything. With nothing else to do, we all followed suit and went back into the train, meeting up in the dining room as Monokuma had ordered us.

When we arrived at the dining room, however, Monokuma was nowhere to be found.

"Where is he?" asked Tame, scooping some sushi onto a plate.

"Now's not the time to be eating, I don't think," Masaki told her. "But it's still strange that Monokuma hasn't shown up yet..."

"Show yourself, fucker!" Kaemon shouted out. There was more silence.

"Come on!" Yuki shouted. She slammed a pair of fists onto a table, a vein showing on her forehead. She certainly wasn't very happy about this...

"Yuki, I don't think you need to react like that..." I reminded her. She turned back to me, and opened her mouth as if to say something to me. Before she could do that, however, Monokuma suddenly burst through the door, entering the room.

"Upupu~!" Monokuma laughed. "Sorry to keep you waiting, it took a long time to get today's motive all ready!"

Tomoe lowered her sunglasses at Monokuma. "Did ya really have to keep us that long? Some of us were starting to get _impatient_."

Monokuma laughed again. "Ah ha ha! You're all so funny! I wonder, why would you wait for a robotic bear like me? Is there really something so special about me? I'm touched,"

"I am under the impression that you at least have an inkling of the reason we decided to hold out for you," Kenji told him. "It is simply because our lives are on the line,"

Monokuma sighed. "Ah, why you gotta be a killjoy?" Monokuma asked Kenji. I trembled before Monokuma's lighthearted tone - he was just about to give us some reason to kill each other! Why was he so cool with this?!

"Kenji, it is probably best if you do not provoke him," Asa advised the Ultimate Swordplayer. "If anything, it will make you one of his biggest targets,"

"Upupu, right on the nose!" Monokuma replied to Asa. "Just for that remark, Kenji, you get to go first!"

First?

We were being presented the motive in a certain order?

What was going on?

"No more funny business, what's the motive?" asked Hideki.

Monokuma giggled again. "You'll just have to wait and see, Chief Wiggum!" He called to Hideki. "Anyway, today your motive is this!" Monokuma announced before pulling from thin air a black box with a pink splatter pattern over the sides. "In here are envelopes with your names on them, and they each have a secret that you have kept hidden from the rest of the world for your whole lives! It's bound to fill you with such despair, knowing that I know your deepest, and darkest secrets!"

I gasped. I quickly thought about each of my embarrassing or dark secrets. Honestly, I never really had many moments that instantly came to mind. I lived my entire life as nothing more than a regular schoolgirl who _sometimes_ took pictures and did editorials, but that was about it. I wasn't particularly worried about what anyone would find out about me, I was more worried about the fact that Monokuma seemed to know our pasts.

He had the power to affect us on a psychological level. I quivered as I imagined someone with a secret they would do _anything_ to protect. Anything.

"Anyway, to begin," Monokuma stated. "We will be taking turns, that way there is no confusion! Because he decided to make an example of himself, let us begin with you, Kenji Yang! Remember, if you do not do as I say, you will be executed!"

Kenji gave a huff as he walked up to the box, and Monokuma handed him an envelope which read "Kenji" on the front. He opened up the envelope and eyed the slip of paper he got, then gasped. "No..." He whispered.

"Oop, not letting that happen! Don't you dare say what you're thinking until everybody gets their secrets!" Monokuma instructed him. "Hmm... a boy went first, so a girl can go next. How about you, Guadalupe?"

Guadalupe went up and received her envelope. Then Masaki, then Asa, then Daquan, then Yuki, then Utamuro, and I lost track of it until he eventually got to me.

"Kanon, you're next!" Monokuma called me up. I gulped as I approached the box - I knew that I wouldn't be receiving a secret that I would particularly mind if anybody else got, I just knew that it was bad that Monokuma knew it. I reached my shaking hand into the box and pulled my envelope, and then took a deep breath as I opened it up.

I gasped as I read what was written on the paper. I would have never expected something like this.

It read,

"Masaki Domoto almost pulled the trigger after being released from jail. Sometimes, he wishes he did it."

Nothing could have prepared me for this. I dropped the paper onto the ground as I stood there, completely frozen.

"Kanon? You okay?" Ryo asked me. "Was it... that bad?"

I couldn't answer him. Not after learning this.

Finding out that we weren't getting our own secrets was bad enough. Knowing that Masaki had tried to kill himself was positively terrible. Learning that he sometimes wishes he succeeded broke my heart into millions of microscopic pieces.

 _Masaki..._ I whispered to myself as tears began to well up in my eyes.

I thought it would end at trying to prevent another murder, trying to make sure we all lived.

Now I had to do my best to protect Masaki. I turned around and looked back at him. He was wearing an expression of concern on his face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Masaki asked me.

"I don't think she's answering right now," Ryo replied. "I think she needs to rest, poor girl's been through a lot,"

I couldn't say anything. I couldn't tell them.

Monokuma... really was a heartless, soulless being. He sure did his best to remind us of that fact at every turn...


	10. Chapter 2: Free Time Events

Everyone exited the dining room, though I stood in place. I couldn't shake the thought of the horrors that Monokuma had unfolded right before me. I couldn't even approach Masaki about this; I knew that would cause more trouble than it would solve. I also wasn't the best at commiserating.

Trying to get my mind off of things, I took a deep breath and exited the dining room myself. Perhaps I would spend some time with some of my friends in order to forget about what I had just seen.

As I walked through the corridors of the train, I found Asa in the kitchen, wearing an apron spotted with cake batter and frosting, undoubtedly baking something. "Oh, hello dear Kanon!" she called out to me. I smiled at Asa, then gasped as I saw someone else sitting down at a table - Masaki. He looked right at me, and I stopped cold. Now that I knew, there was no way I could approach him so casually.

Of course, now he would think it was weird that I wouldn't talk to him, seemingly from out of nowhere.

"H-Hi Asa..." I muttered to her, trying to keep my eyes off of Masaki. He didn't say anything, and turned away to look down at the table. All I could do was wonder what exactly he was thinking at the moment, and if it had anything to do with Monokuma's twisted motive.

"I'm baking a cake! I think it will help us get our mind off of things!" Asa informed me. "Would you like to help me out?"

Ignoring Masaki, I nodded and gave a smile at Asa. I decided I would spend some of my free time with her.

"Great!" She replied with a warm smile on her face. "Here, put this on!" She instructed me, handing me a white apron like the one she was wearing. "I absolutely require that you wear this, I can't let your uniform get covered in cake mix!"

I smiled at Asa's concern as I put the apron on. It was a little big on me, but if it would keep my clothes from getting dirty, it was worth it.

"Now, I still need to make the second layer, so I'll have you mix that for me!" Asa said, handing me a large mixing bowl filled with a cream-colored liquid cake mix and a shiny metal whisk. I nodded in return, whisking the cake mix as vigorously as I could. "Oh, you're quite good at that!" Asa noted.

"R-really?" I asked as some of the mix splashed onto my apron. "I mean, all I'm doing is mixing-"

Asa gasped. "Oh dear, there's simply far more to it than just mixing! This is a process, it needs to be respected as an art! I believe you're doing that art justice!"

I giggled a bit at Asa's compliments. Just like the baked goods she would make, Asa really was rather sweet. She helped guide me through all the motions, assisting me with the mixing, pouring, and spreading. Even if I spilled a little here or there, she was so patient and supportive.

After about an hour or so, it was all ready to be put in the oven.

"There we go!" Asa announced. "Thank you for all your help, Kanon! I'm sure it will turn out wonderful!"

"Yeah!" I replied. "I mean, you did most of it, so of course,"

"Aw, don't say that!" Asa told me. "Please, take credit when it's given to you! You have so much more to you than you think!"

While it seemed a little over-the-top to give me such high praise for simply helping bake, I still appreciated every last word of what Asa said to me.

"Anyway, I'm going to need to pull this out in an hour or so, would you mind waiting here with me?" Asa asked.

"Well-" Before I could finish my sentence, I turned to see Masaki looking at us again. I jolted a little bit, and suddenly stood up. "I, uh... have to go," I replied to her.

"Oh, it's okay! I understand!" Asa replied. "I'll come get you when it's finished!"

I nodded and walked out of the kitchen, trying to think of my next place to go. With haste, I headed toward our rooms. While the hallway was rather empty, I noticed Saeko exiting her room for a brief moment. Then I realized, I didn't actually know Saeko too well yet.

"Hey, Saeko!" I called out. She looked my way and grinned.

"Hello!" Saeko responded. "What's up?"

I had to think of some way to engage in conversation. What would Saeko be interested in? Given that she was a collector, she was bound to have rather eclectic tastes. "I, uh... I'd like to see what sort of things you have collected!"

Saeko's eyes gleamed the moment I expressed interest in her collection. While I now knew I would probably be here a while, it still would help me get my mind off of... well, that. "Absolutely!" Saeko exclaimed at once, grabbing me by the hand as she pulled me into her room. No, she literally pulled me off of my feet and into her room.

I took a second to catch my footing again as I entered her room, and all I could do was gasp in awe at everything all around. Any sort of collectible, whether it be anime figurines, old comics, stamps, rare coins, vintage video games, it was all there. Everything was organized by group, with some of the more rare items behind protective glass or plastic. It was almost like walking into a museum of valuable collectibles.

"Whoa..." I whispered to myself. "How did you acquire all of this?" I asked her. "Some of these things must be worth millions..."

Saeko smirked at me, then did a twirl as she gestured toward her anime figurines. "These weren't so rare when I first bought them, but they discontinued them after only the first wave, so now getting your hands on even one is almost impossible!" She informed me. "In fact, this one right here," She began, motioning toward a human-sized robot figure. "Actually was painted wrong, it's supposed to have red arms, not white. For this reason, it's a one-of-a-kind! Worth over one million yen!"

I gasped at Saeko's claim. One million yen, for that? It just couldn't be real.

"And that's not all!" Saeko continued. She did another twirl, before stopping in front of her dresser, where a golden, rectangular cartridge for an old video game was erected. "This is a limited-edition version of the video game World Championships, there's only around 26 of them in the world!"

Only 26?! How did she even get a hold of that?!

"What?! They stopped producing games like that before you were even alive!" I exclaimed, still in disbelief. At this point, I needed to get a lot of pictures of Saeko's room. Her collection would have made for an excellent article.

Saeko gave another smirk. "It's amazing what you can do with the internet and a little bit of exaggeration!"

"What do you mean by that? A little bit of exaggeration?" I asked her, while starting up my camera.

With a nervous chuckle, Saeko grabbed both of my cheeks and looked me in the eye. "Okay, don't tell anyone I told you this, but," She whispered. I nodded, my eyes darting back-and-forth as my temples began to sweat. What was she about to say? "I'm..."

She was...?

Saeko leaned in closer, whispering right in my ear. "There's no way I could afford any of this stuff. I'm actually over one billion yen in debt,"

I gasped as Saeko let go of me. One billion yen in debt?! How was that even possible?!

"How are you one billion-"

"Shhh!" Saeko shushed me before I could finish my question. "If anyone hears, it'll be the end of me!"

I sighed. I suddenly didn't want to write an article about Saeko, given the dishonesty of her collection. It was quite impressive she owned all this, but was it really right, owning all this without paying for it? It was physical piracy.

The two of us went silent for a moment, before she smiled at me and scooted closer. "Y'know, no one really takes the time to talk to me like this. I hang out with Toko and Daquan, obviously, but even they would much rather talk about their talents than mine. You're a good listener, y'know?"

I smiled at Saeko's compliment. Perhaps she wasn't the most genuine of us, but she had a good heart. At least I think she did.

The two of us went silent again, and I looked at the time on my phone. It looked like I had spent a decent amount of time with Saeko, so I decided to see who else I could spend time with. "Well, I guess I'll see you later!" I told Saeko as I exited her room. Saeko waved back at me as I left, and walked outside the train to see who else I could find.

Just as before, I saw Yuki and Guadalupe playing around in the snow, wrestling each other and throwing snowballs. I smiled at the sort of childlike horseplay the two would engage in, hoping that maybe innocence like that would come back to me. I took a picture of Guadalupe pinning Yuki down in the snow, and all I could do was smile at the sense of playfulness the picture had to it. Of course, I also had to get out of there before the two of them spotted me.

I looked in through the window of the lounge to see Amy-chan, Utamuro, Ryo, Rai, and Hikooki at the tables. Amy-chan would walk out in different outfits, while Utamuro and Ryo were watching her. Rai seemed to be going off about something to Hikooki, who kept looking back at him with a bored expression on his face. It looked like all of them were preoccupied, so I left them be.

I walked past the lounge and then to the shack, where a loud grinding noise was coming from. I covered my ears as I walked inside, trying to determine the source of the sound. Inside, I could see Daquan wearing a clunky welder's mask, filing some long metallic object with a saw. Almost as soon as I got in there, Daquan stopped and pulled his mask off. "Oh, good to see you, Kanon!" He called out to me. "What brings you here?"

I shrugged at Daquan's question. "Just passing the time. I see you found a new place to work?"

Daquan gave a chuckle. "Yeah, I didn't wanna disturb anyone back on the train," He replied. "So I'm doin' all my work here!"

I looked around Daquan to see various steel beams and other pieces of metallic equipment strewn about. It looked like he had gotten quite a bit done in the short time he had to do this.

"Wow, you work fast, don't you?" I asked him.

Daquan shrugged. "This is just normal speed for me. My uncle told me to follow this passion no matter where it guided me, so I just kept goin'. I just do it so much that I forget I'm even doin' it!"

I just gasped as I looked at all his creations. While it was mostly just frames and support beams, it was still impressive how he had gotten all of that done. "Where do you get all the materials to make this?" I asked him.

Daquan shrugged. "Mostly just junkyards and dumpsters," He replied. "Back where I come from, people throw that shit away all the time," He informed me. "Actually, most of the time my uncle just comes by and gives me stuff to work with,"

I nodded at Daquan's claim. I thought it was quite sweet how close he was with his uncle, it just furthered my initial impression of him. He was a nice boy, I liked him.

"What are you working on right now?" I asked him.

"Oh, this?" Daquan replied, holding out the steel beam he was working on. "Oh, just a frame for a shelf I've been working on. Saeko wanted more shelves to put more stuff on, because her she thinks her room is getting cluttered,"

Wow, he was a good friend too! Was there any shortcoming he had?

"So, Daquan, what made you want to get into this?" I asked.

Daquan sighed. "I... don't know if I want to tell you," He replied. "I got involved with the wrong people, at the wrong time... if I could change who I was then, I'd be happy, but I don't know if I woulda ever gotten into this,"

I nodded at his statement. I really didn't want to push his buttons, or pry him for information. It was nice of him to talk with me, though. "I'm sorry about that," I apologized to him. "Well... I think I'll go now. It was nice hanging out with you!" I told him. Daquan gave me a warm smile as I walked away from the shack/his new workshop, and headed back onto the train.

What was greeting me there was... quite the surprise.

"Kanon Amari," I heard a tough, overtly confident voice call out. From my left side, Hideki walked toward me with a grin on his face. "Now that it's gotten later, I think I should approach you about this,"

"Wh-what is it?" I asked Hideki, feeling a chill down my spine as I tried to fake a smile.

"Is this true?" He asked, pulling out a slip of paper from his pocket. It read,

"Kanon Amari sent nude pictures to her ex-boyfriend, who still has the pictures."

I gasped. No, there was no way Monokuma should have known that! In fact, I had forgotten all about that!

"Th-that's not true..." I muttered to him.

"A likely story," He replied, putting the note back into his pocket. "How old were you when you sent that?" He asked me.

Oh no. I began to sweat, tugging on my collar as I tried to think of an answer to his question. I had to come up with something that wasn't true, but could sound true.

Hideki smirked at me and crossed his arms. "Kanon, look. In this digital age, it's normal for girls like you to want to send pictures like that to significant others, or even to friends. Lots of them do it,"

Something about Hideki's wording calmed my nerves a bit. I gave a sigh. "He... begged and begged me to send some, and so... I did. It was a little embarrassing, but I'd honestly forgotten all about it..."

Hideki shrugged. "Kanon, I asked you how old you were when you sent those,"

"Oh, right. Well, I was sixteen, and-"

Hideki tilted his head. "Sixteen, huh? How do I put this... that's illegal,"

I gasped again. "B-But you just said it was perfectly normal!"

He shrugged yet again, and turned away. "Yeah, normal, but I never said it was legal. Look, there's not much I can do here, but I imagine you wouldn't want a secret like that going around," Hideki informed me. "Now, I'm an honest guy. I won't tell anybody about this, but I expect you to hold up an end of the deal too,"

I raised an eyebrow. What could Hideki be talking about?

"Don't get involved with Masaki anymore. That boy is trouble. He'll only lead you further down the road of bad choices you're already going down,"

I wanted to protest, but Hideki made off with great haste before I could even say anything. I just stared at the wall and gulped down my insecurities, shaking with a sense of nervousness.

What was I to do now?


	11. Chapter 2: Train Life 1

A certain wave of dread filled my heart and head as Hideki walked off. _Of all people to get my secret, why did it have to be him?_ I asked myself. Now there was no way I could approach Masaki, not with our secrets up in the air like this. I couldn't afford to make things worse for him, or for myself.

All this thinking was beginning to make me feel lightheaded and lethargic. I stumbled toward my room, my eyes twitching as the world around me began to feel slow and heavy. I trudged into my room, shoving aside the door as I plopped down onto my bed, looking at the ceiling. I was too tired to change into my pajamas, or to even take off my glasses for that matter. Before I could even process another thought about Masaki or Hideki, I drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

Not too long afterward, however, I heard an obnoxious "DING-DONG! DING-DONG!" at my door. I yawned and rubbed my eyes as I stepped up and held the door open, to see Utamuro standing in the doorway.

"Oh, hey..." I greeted Utamuro in a whisper, giving a lazy hand wave.

"Hey Kanon," Utamuro greeted me, handing me a slip of paper from inside his sleeve, folded into quarters. "Uh... I was told to give this to you," He informed me as I took the slip of paper from him. I opened up the paper to read, "Meet me in the dining hall - M.D.".

"Who's... M.D.?" I asked Utamuro. He opened his mouth to answer me, but I suddenly pieced together who it would be. M.D. - Masaki Domoto. Of course, who else? "Wait... Masaki?" I asked him.

Utamuro nodded in return. "Yeah. He says it's really important," He told me.

No. I couldn't.

If I were to meet up with him and Hideki was to find out, my secret would be out.

There was no telling how everyone else would feel about me then.

"What's it about?" I asked him, clenching onto the slip of paper, which was beginning to moisten beneath my sweaty palm.

Utamuro shrugged. "Not sure, he never told me," He replied as he turned around to walk out. "Also, your clothes are all wrinkled, I'd suggest you change or iron them. Just sayin',"

I looked down at my uniform. He was right, there were wrinkles everywhere. I guess that's what I get for sleeping in them.

Before I could say anything else to Utamuro, he walked out and left me in the room. With a sigh, I walked out into the dining hall to see Masaki leaning against the wall, out of view of the doorways.

"Kanon, there you are," Masaki whispered to me as he gestured for me to come closer. I jumped, looking behind to see if Hideki was around. After looking around, I couldn't see the interrogator anywhere. I gave a sigh of relief as I inched toward him, afraid of what he would say.

"What is it?" I whispered to him, looking into his gentle and caring eyes.

Masaki gave a sigh and turned his head away, looking at the ceiling. "This isn't going to be easy, but... you got my secret, didn't you?" He asked me.

I felt as if someone had pierced a hole through my heart as he asked me this question. I gulped down my anxiety and gave a sigh before I looked up at him and gave a slow nod.

"I see," Masaki replied to me. "What was it?" He asked.

"Y-You..." I felt my forehead sweating as he asked the question, as I tried to muster up all the courage I could to answer him. "You... attempted to commit suicide... and sometimes you wish you succeeded..."

Masaki nodded, looking like he was avoiding showing any emotion. "Ah, I had a feeling," He whispered to me. "Look, don't let that get to you, okay?" He tried to comfort me, placing his hands on my shoulders. "No matter what... it's not anything you did, or ever could do. It's a problem much greater than myself, it's nothing you can help on your own,"

I gulped again, looking down at the ground. Of everyone aboard this train, no one had yet been so helpful to me as Masaki had. He was one of the only people here I could trust, and even during the times where he tried to turn me away, I felt close to him. He was my best friend. Words wouldn't be able to express how bad I would feel if I were to ever lose him.

"B-But... what if you try again?! I can't let you do that! I... I'd miss you..." I told him, trying to hold in tears.

Masaki sighed and let go of me before he walked away. "I understand," He replied to me. "I don't want you to ever have to see that," He told me, looking down at the ground as he headed back toward the hallway. "If anything bad happens to me, I don't want you to feel responsible for it. It's not your fault I'm a selfish, depressed wreck of a human being," He whispered, walking away.

"But you're not-" I tried to call out to him as he walked off. I stood there in silence, feeling my arms and hands trembling as he headed out. What if this triggered something in him that might make him actually do it? All I could do was just hope he would stop himself again. I couldn't risk making it worse.

That's when I had an idea.

What if all of us got together and said the secrets we were given aloud, so that no one was singled out? I would no longer have to worry about anything Hideki could say or do to me, and Masaki wouldn't have to feel alone in all this. Man, if Michiru were alive right now, she would know exactly how to handle this.

I walked past the dining hall and into the scenic room, where I saw Rai, Hikooki, Tame, Kenji, Ryo, Shiro, Asa, Saeko, Toko, Daquan, and Kaemon sitting in a group.

"Hey, everyone!" I called out to them, excited to present my idea to them.

"Howdy, Kanon!" Toko greeted me. "You joinin' our secret-findin' group?" They asked.

I shook my head. "I have a better idea," I replied. "What if we get everyone to meet up, and then say all of our secrets aloud, including who has the secret?"

Kaemon scoffed. "Sounds boring," He replied, playing a game on his laptop. I wanted to point out his absolute hypocrisy, but something stopped me.

"Dear Kanon, we're doing the best we can to figure out who has whose secrets," Asa informed me.

"Yeah, this is the best way of really knowing who might kill someone else," said Rai. "Now, where could Aiko be? She said she would be here by now,"

Hikooki shrugged. "I haven't the faintest clue. Perhaps she just forgot, again?"

Rai shook his head. "She always seems to forget anytime I ask her to hang out,"

"Well Kanon, I think you have a good idea," Shiro informed me, ignoring Rai. "If we get everyone together to reveal their secrets, we can beat Monokuma's little game,"

"That's easy for you to say," Hikooki replied. "The one you got was no big deal at all,"

No big deal?

But weren't these supposed to be life-threatening secrets or something to that effect?

"I, for one, believe that if I let go of who I am, I become what I might be," Kenji informed me, crossing his arms. "Our secrets may be holding us back, including myself. However, once we get past that, we will become greater than ever before. You can consider me an attendee of your meeting,"

I nodded at Kenji with a smile, pleased with his decision.

"Uh, I'll go too," Tame added on. "I mean, I don't really have much to lose from all this,"

Daquan nodded along. "Yeah, and I think it'll bring us closer together. We won't kill each other if we're all good friends, right?"

Toko nodded and gave a grin. "I reckon we're gettin' somewhere now! Kanon, that was a mighty fun suggestion you made! You can count me in now,"

"I guess I can go too," Rai stated. "I mean, I'll try and see if I can get Aiko to come with me, but I'll do my best,"

Saeko stood up and shook her head. "I'd love to go tomorrow, but..."

Toko and Daquan looked at her, raising an eyebrow. I raised an eyebrow at Saeko as well, wondering what she was going on about this time.

"I'm meeting up with somebody tomorrow," Saeko announced.

"Who is it?" Ryo asked her. "If it's not Toko or Daquan, then who could it possibly be?"

Saeko smiled and shook her head. "It's not important," She replied. "Actually, I shouldn't have brought that up. Moving on?"

Toko and Daquan gave a little side-eye to Saeko as Ryo was the next to speak up. "I, uh... don't think I'll have any problem attending," He told us. "Just... please don't laugh at my secret when it comes up, okay?"

I nodded at Ryo's request. "Of course not, this is for us to get closer together. I would never be able to laugh at you for that,"

"I should be able to attend too, dear," Asa informed me with a smile. "In fact, I'll make my special cookies for this event!"

Kaemon looked up from his computer and then looked at all of us. "Uh... maybe I'll go..." He whispered. "Just... don't get any ideas. I still hate all of you,"

I sighed, but I guess it couldn't be helped. I didn't think there was anybody who actually liked him among all of us anyway.

From here, I decided I should present my suggestion to everybody else as well. I had to see who else would be attending this event. I walked away from the group in the scenic room and headed back up to the hallway, where I found Tomoe, Utamuro, and Amy-chan.

"Man, this floor is just disgusting!" Tomoe called out, looking down at the ground with a face of disgust. I looked down to see that she was right - footprints, hair, and other assorted junk littered the floor. "That's it, we need to set up some sorta cleaning schedule for us. I can't stand looking at this ground anymore,"

"That's a perfect idea," Utamuro replied to her. "I think I'll handle it tonight. Who should handle it tomorrow?"

"What about Kaemon?" I half-jokingly whispered.

"Perfect!" Amy-chan exclaimed. "He's so _kitanai,_ just like this floor!"

"Will he even do it?" Utamuro asked. "He doesn't seem like the type of person who would clean up so willingly,"

Tomoe gave a grin. "Ah, that's where this chart comes in," She began, drawing a chart with everybody's name on it. "Technically, he doesn't have to do it. But then that means the person cleaning the next day has to clean up everything he didn't clean up, so that's just bad for him in the end. In fact, I think I'll make it someone who hates his guts, somebody like... I dunno... Yuki?"

Yuki was a good choice, she seemed to hate Kaemon more than even the rest of us.

"Perfect idea," Utamuro replied. Tomoe hung up the chart in the hallway, reading:

"Hallway Cleaning Chart:

*Today: Utamuro

*Tomorrow: Kaemon

*Day After: Yuki"

"And then every day, we just bump everyone to the next day, and then we add the next person from there," Tomoe informed us.

I thought she had a good idea going on. I had to hand it to her - that girl was totally organized all the time. Before I walked off, I had to present my idea to them.

"Hey, uh, would anyone be interested in attending a meeting tomorrow? It's to discuss all of our secrets, so that we can beat Monokuma's motive," I suggested to them.

Utamuro nodded. "Not a bad plan. The sooner we can meet up, the better,"

Amy-chan's eyes darted back-and-forth. "The idea of my secret coming out... it's so... _kowai_..." She muttered. "B-But... I guess if it's to beat Monokuma..."

Tomoe shrugged in return. "I dunno. The secret I got was... well, it was real bad. Like, the kinda thing that nobody else should know," She informed us as she walked away. "I'm staying outta this one,"

I sighed, but I knew I had to remain vigilant for this.

"Anyway, I'm going to bed," Utamuro whispered with a yawn. "I feel sleepy all of a sudden,"

Amy-chan gave an exaggerated yawn, stretching her arms out. "I'm going to bed too... _Oyasumi_ , Utamuro-kun and Kanon-chan..."

The three of us walked away from the scene as we all headed back to our rooms. I changed into my pajamas and waited for the next day to come, hoping desperately that no one would be dead in the morning.

We had to make sure everybody was safe for this meeting.


	12. Chapter 2: Train Life 2

_Ding-dong, ding-dong!_

"Good morning, students! It is now seven AM!" I heard Monokuma call out on the monitor. I awakened immediately after hearing Monokuma's squeaky voice.

I had a mostly unremarkable sleep last night. I might have had a dream, but I couldn't remember quite what happened in it. I grabbed my glasses from the shelf adjacent to myself, and changed into my school uniform. With a yawn, I stretched my arms and headed out the door. I figured everyone else would have already been at the dining hall by now, so I made a beeline and rushed to meet up with the others.

I burst in through the dining hall door to see everybody congregated at the tables. I guess everyone had been waiting for me here.

"Ah, so you _did_ make it," Hideki commented, giving a wide grin in my direction. I saw an empty seat between Masaki and Azizah, and was about to take my seat next to them. However, Hideki's grin got wider and smugger the closer I got to the seat, his face seeming to read "Go ahead," in the most challenging, taunting way possible. I hesitated to sit down between the two of them, but looking at Hideki's face, I sighed and begrudgingly took a seat between him and Asa.

"Kanon? What's wrong?" Azizah asked, tilting her head in my direction. "I do apologize if I said something which offended you,"

I shook my head in her direction. "No, it's not you, it's just-"

Hideki looked back at me and shook his head. I jumped a bit, feeling my skin crawl as he stared me down.

"It's... nothing, I just wanted to sit by Asa today," I finished up my sentence. I could only imagine what Hideki would say if I mentioned he was blackmailing me.

"Hmm, it seems nobody else is going to say it, so I shall be the one to announce it," Kenji spoke up. "Last night, Kanon made a suggestion to us. For tonight, we should all get together and say which secrets we have, that way everybody knows everybody else's secrets. If we have nothing to hide from each other, not only will it deepen our bonds, but it will also remove the need for us to hide anything from anybody,"

Tame nodded along. "Yeah, I think that's a good idea," She turned her headphones down as she spoke up. "I would be a lot more comfortable with everybody if everybody's secrets were out, even my own,"

Masaki nodded in compliance. "I don't think that's a terrible idea," He whispered. "Well, I'll attend if you guys do,"

Hideki looked at me with a glare and a scowl. "Uh, how about we don't?" Hideki countered Kenji. The Ultimate Swordplayer side-eyed Hideki for a second. "Some people here have _very_ sensitive secrets, and throwing them out so willingly wouldn't be so great for everyone. Isn't that right, Kanon?"

I gulped upon hearing Hideki's words. While my secret was rather sensitive, and he did have the means to reveal it to everybody else at a moment's notice, he also knew that it would be far less sensitive if everybody else's were to be revealed as well. Then there was the question of what his secret even was.

"I would attend it," Guadalupe blurted out. "I don't think my secret will be all that bad,"

Yuki nodded along. "Yeah, I think I can handle it as well,"

Aiko gave a wide grin as well. "I think I'd like to attend as well, it sounds like a beautiful idea to share our secrets with each other! It strengthens our siblinghood and makes us who we are!"

"Oh, there was somethin' else I wanted to add to this discussion," said Tomoe. "I'm gettin' sick and tired of this train being so dirty all the time! I'm thinking we need to start a nightly cleaning schedule, if anybody saw that in the hallway,"

Yuki's eyes widened as soon as Tomoe mentioned that. "Hey, I did see that! Why was my name on that chart?"

"We decided it at random," Tomoe replied. "And besides, tonight's Kaemon's night anyway,"

Kaemon glared over at Tomoe. "Hey, I never agreed to this!"

Utamuro shrugged. "I dunno, we never agreed to walking around in a filthy pigsty of a train, but here we are anyway..."

Sen stood up. "Yes, it is a serious health concern for the train to be left uncleaned! We must make sure to clean it regularly!"

Hikooki nodded, not even looking up from the table. "Yeah... I don't think I could handle living in a dirty train,"

"Anyway," began Masaki, standing up. "I've got some things I need to take care of. We're meeting up at 5 PM, okay?" He suggested, before heading out. One by one, everyone else headed out of the dining hall as well, before leaving me all alone in the room. With a little bit of time left before the meeting, I decided to head outside. I found Guadalupe hanging out outside the lounge, when she spotted me pass by.

"''Hola'', Kanon!" Guadalupe called out, waving to me with a big grin on her face. "Yuki and I are going to hang out on the hill with some others, would you like to join?" She suggested. I smiled at her, still looking for a means of passing the time. I nodded as the two of us walked up the hill, where Yuki, Rai, Aiko, Saeko, Toko, Daquan, and Hikooki were waiting for us.

"Hey Guadalupe!" Yuki greeted her. "And you brought Kanon with you, sweet!"

I nodded back at Yuki. "Yeah, I decided to hang out. So what are we all doing?" I asked the group.

"Not sure yet," Hikooki replied. "Toko just gathered us up here for this game they heard about from Monokuma,"

Toko nodded. "Yeah! Monokuma told us that we can get these things called Monocoins if we hit those snow Monokumas with snowballs from this height! We can then use those Monocoins to win prizes n' stuff, I think it's a good idea if we make a game out of it!"

Aiko grinned at Toko's proposal. "Ooh, sounds like a lot of fun! You can consider me up for it!"

"Yeah, I'm down for this!" Daquan agreed.

"I think I'll enjoy playing this game, even if the snow is a bit soft for optimal snowball throwing," said Rai.

"Shut up, no one needs you nerding up the place," Yuki joked to him. "Sorry, that was a joke. Anyway, I'll take the first shot!" Yuki rolled up a snowball in her hand and looked back at us, and we all smiled at her, cheering her on. "Alright everyone, watch and learn! I'm the true master of snow here!"

"Go, Yuki!" Guadalupe cheered as Yuki chucked the snowball at a snow Monokuma below the hill. As if by sheer luck, Yuki nailed the snow Monokuma in the head, reducing it to nothing but indeterminate slush.

"Whoa, a direct hit!" Daquan exclaimed. "Keep it up!"

Toko grinned back at Yuki. "Say, varmint... how 'bout a li'l one-on-one? I think I can beat ya at this," They bragged.

"You're on!" Yuki accepted the challenge. I don't think anyone else even tried at this point as we all watched Toko pick up a snowball and hit a snow Monokuma on the ground square in the center. "Pretty good... but I'm better!" Yuki boasted as she hurled a snowball... which proceeded to miss and land directly on the ground. "Wh-what?!"

"It was just beginner's luck," Toko whispered as they launched another snowball and directly beaned another snow Monokuma. "Two-fer-two."

"No way!" Yuki shouted out, her face starting to go red. "That was... a complete fluke! Lemme try again!" Frustrated, she picked up another snowball and threw it, and once again missed completely.

This cycle continued for the next few hours. Toko would continually hit every snowman from then on while Yuki missed every single one afterward, each time getting more and more frustrated. Eventually, her arm got so tired from throwing snowballs that she had to quit.

"Well, I guess we found out who won this one," Toko boasted as Daquan, Saeko, Hikooki, Rai, and Aiko clapped for them. Yuki squatted down on the ground and scowled as Guadalupe and I patted her on the back.

"You did the best you could," Guadalupe encouraged her. "Anyway, I think it's best if we get going now,"

With every one of us tired out from the fun we had, we all headed back to the dining hall on the train. It was getting close to 5 PM, and Masaki, Utamuro, Amy-chan, Kenji, Tame, Ryo, Asa, Shiro, and Kaemon were already present.

"Ah, you guys made it," Masaki began. "It's almost time for us to begin. Everyone take a seat, and we'll all take turns saying whose secrets we got,"

Instantly, Saeko turned around and headed toward the door. "I can't be here, I've got somebody to meet up with," She told us. "I may be back later,"

"Hey, where are the others?" Ryo asked. "I got someone who's not even present at the moment. I don't think it would be a good idea to reveal the secret of someone who's not here. It seems really disrespectful,"

Masaki nodded. "Understandable. You don't need to say it, then,"

Ryo nodded back. "But I'll stay here too, just in case somebody has my secret,"

"So, when shall we begin?" I asked. "And who wants to start?"

After a few minutes, Masaki began. He pulled a slip of paper from his pocket and read aloud, "Kenji Yang killed someone at age nine,"

Kenji went silent for a few seconds and nodded. "It is true. I did it for no other reason than for self-defense,"

Everyone seemed to back away from Kenji after his secret was read aloud. Even Tame's eyes darted back and forth upon hearing that.

"Anyway," Kenji began, clearing his throat. "Tame Maeda sleeps with a night-light, because she is afraid of the dark,"

Tame gulped, looking down and nodding. "Yeah..." She then pulled her slip of paper from out of her cleavage and began to read. "Ryo Shinobu is homosexual,"

Ryo's eyes widened upon hearing Tame read those words, going completely silent. Kaemon looked like he was about to speak up, but Masaki glared at him, as he kept silent. "Anyway, I guess we'll go with the person next to me... that's Daquan,"

Daquan pulled his slip of paper from his pocket. "Hideki Harada once got the wrong suspect, who is still serving a life sentence. Whoa, what an asshole,"

Ryo gasped, as Hideki wasn't even there. "Daquan, I thought we weren't reading off secrets of people who aren't here!"

Daquan shook his head. "If it's Hideki, who cares?"

Masaki nodded. "I agree,"

I breathed a sigh of relief, giving a devious smirk. Now I had dirt on Hideki, and if he ever tried to say anything, I would just be able to-

Before I could finish that thought, Hideki burst in from the adjacent room.

"Kanon Amari sent nude pictures to her ex-boyfriend, who still has the pictures,"

Masaki looked at me as my face flushed a beet-red. I went completely silent, looking at the ground as my heart pounded faster. My arms trembled and my palms began to sweat.

''What would Masaki think of me now?!''

After a long silence, Masaki looked at me and cleared his throat. "Kanon, your turn,"

I nodded back. "Masaki Domoto almost pulled the trigger after being released from jail. Sometimes, he wishes he did it," My voice squeaked with each word, trying to finish the sentence as slowly as possible. After another long pause, Utamuro spoke up.

"Shiro Sakai once-"

Shiro gasped upon hearing their name, and instantly rushed out of the room. Utamuro hadn't even gotten to finish his sentence yet.

"Oh, uh... never mind then,"

"Yuki Hatano almost died in a snowboarding accident," Rai stated. Yuki glared at Rai from her position.

"That was because of a complete accident!" Yuki defended herself. "Don't make me sound bad in the process!"

"Hey, I was just doing as I was told!" Rai shouted back.

"Both of you, just shut up," Hikooki grumbled to them both. "I'm not going to do this if this keeps up, I'm out," Before anyone could stop him, Hikooki was on his way out of the meeting.

"Actually... I have a cleansing ritual I need to begin," Aiko announced, looking at her phone. "I shall see you all by the next dawn!"

Rai stood up as well. "Wait, where are you going?!" He called out, following her out the door.

There was another awkward pause as Masaki shook his head and stood up with a huff. "Great, this has been a fantastic failure. I think we ended up creating more problems than we actually solved," He muttered to himself as he walked out too. In seconds, each of us walked out of the dining hall. I clenched my fists and kicked the leg of a table, frustrated that everyone now knew my secret, and that my plan ultimately failed. With nothing else to do, I walked out of the dining hall and through the hallway, where I found Saeko standing against a wall, talking with Rai and Aiko. I approached the three of them, wondering what was going on.

"Oh, hey Kanon," Saeko whispered to me. Rai and Aiko turned back to me and nodded at me as I entered.

"Aiko's just helping Saeko with a... moral dilemma, I guess," Rai stated.

"That is marvelously correct!" Aiko confirmed, giving an imp-like giggle. "Saeko, what did you say your trouble was? I apologize, my memory is quite shoddy,"

Saeko cleared her throat and leaned in toward the three of us. "Look, I... I didn't want to say the secret I got, because it's way bad. If anyone found out about this, it would be the end for them,"

"Well, why don't you begin by telling us who it belongs to?" Aiko asked her.

Saeko shook her head. "I'd rather not. Just for their sake," She replied.

Aiko nodded, giving a muffled "hee hee hee!". "Okay. Well, I don't know who it is, obviously, but my suggestion is to be upfront with them. After all, it is said that lies clutter and corrupt one's brain, making them a confused and misguided individual. Reconcile your emotions and be honest, and they are sure to follow,"

"But what if they get mad?" Saeko asked her.

Aiko shrugged. "It's on them, not you. Hearing a terrible secret can come off as a shock, but having someone to talk with can be therapeutic. Remember, you're doing this to help them, and by extension, to help yourself,"

Wow, Aiko sure had a way with words, didn't she? Despite how creepy and off-putting she was, there was definitely something charismatic about the way she spoke. She could have been talking about how ants eating gasoline was causing global warming and people would listen to her.

Rai nodded. "That sounds like an optimal course of action. Sometimes the best way to brave the storm is to enter it yourself,"

I nodded along. "It's hard to argue with logic like that,"

Saeko smiled at us. "Thanks, guys. I'm going to talk to them about it. Just... don't tell Toko and Daquan about this, okay? They're my best friends, but if I don't tell them every last detail, they think I don't trust them..."

I nodded back at her. "Okay, we won't! Just stay safe, okay?" I asked her.

"Got it!" She called back as she dashed out of the hallway.

"Well... I think it's time for the cleansing. Rai, would you like to join?" Aiko asked him.

"O-Oh, absolutely!" Rai replied, shaking a bit as she asked him that. I couldn't help but chuckle at him, he was just so awkward. I really hoped I didn't look like that whenever Masaki said anything to me...

As the two of them took off, I decided to just take a rest in my room. I felt my eyes close on their own as I drifted off to sleep-

 _KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!_

-But I was quickly awakened by the obnoxious knocking on my door. I rushed to open the door, seeing Azizah standing in the doorway.

"Kanon! Please, come quick!" She called out, her arms trembling as her eyes darted back and forth.

"Whoa!" I stepped back, my anxiety suddenly skyrocketing. "What's going on?"

"It's Saeko!" Azizah cried. "She's hurt!"

I gasped, my eyes widening as I realized our conversation from earlier. I suddenly forgot about Azizah having been missing during all this time as the two of us dashed to Saeko's room, where Toko, Daquan, Sen, and Hideki had already made it. Saeko was lying down in her bed, and Sen was rubbing her head with a blue plastic glove on his hand.

"Y'all made it?" Toko asked us, looking back. Their eyes were wide and sweat was pouring from their forehead, they looked legitimately shaken up. "She's... not doin' so hot,"

"Saeko..." Daquan muttered under his breath. "Doc, how's she doin'?"

I looked over at Sen and Saeko. He was rubbing the side of her head, which looked to be a wound of some sort. "What's wrong?" I asked them.

"He... he..." Saeko whispered, unable to finish the sentence.

"She seems to have stumbled and hit her head," Sen replied. "She's suffered quite the head injury, but assuming all goes well, she'll be alright,"

"Oh, what a relief," Azizah exhaled.

Hideki nodded and scratched their chin. "Kanon, take a picture of this room," He instructed me. "Don't question it, just do it."

I nodded and silently pulled out my camera as I motioned for Toko, Daquan, Azizah, Sen, and Hideki to move. I snapped a picture of the room. Everything seemed to be in working order, but two objects that stood out to me were a model spear hanging on the wall and a large pink travel bag in the corner.

"That's a good call, Hideki," Toko muttered, pulling their hat down. "Anyway... I reckon that we should be gettin' some shut-eye. We need to give Saeko her space," Toko and Daquan then leaned in close to her. "Please, Saeko... Stay safe for us. Yer our best friend, okay?"

"We just... don't know what we'd do without you," Daquan whispered to her.

All Saeko could do was give a short nod as each of us exited the room. I yawned and went back to my room, feeling somehow even more tired than before. I basically fell asleep the moment I rested my head on my pillow, concerned about Saeko. All I could do was hope she would be okay by morning.

 _DING-DONG, DING-DONG!_

I awoke the next morning and headed out of my room. I walked in through the hallway and noticed the carpet was actually clean, and no junk littered the room. It looked completely brand-new.

Just before I could enter the dining hall, I saw Toko and Daquan at the door of Saeko's room, both knocking.

"Damn. She ain't answerin'," Toko muttered.

"Maybe she's sleeping?" Daquan suggested.

Toko shook her head. "Ain't nobody who can sleep through that darn morn' announcement,"

"What's going on?" I asked them as I approached the two of them.

"Saeko hasn't opened up. Nobody's seen her," Daquan informed me.

"Yeah, we tried askin' everybody we've seen. Nobody's seen her since last night. I'm afraid," Toko told me, their voice getting quieter.

Suddenly, Rai dashed over to the three of us, shaking and wheezing.

"Rai?! What the hell is going on?!" Daquan shouted at him.

"I-It's-" Rai struggled to get his words out.

Toko pulled a pistol from underneath their skirt and pointed it at Rai. "If ya got somethin' important to say, I suggest ya say it,"

"C-Come quick! S-Somebody please come!" Rai screamed at us, tears beginning to run down his face. Suddenly, Masaki, Amy-chan, Kaemon, Hikooki, Yuki, Guadalupe, Shiro, Ryo, Kenji, Hideki, and Tame met up with us as well.

"What's going on here?!" Hideki shouted at Rai. "Tell us right now. You've got fifteen seconds,"

"I-I..." Rai sputtered out. "It's outside!"

"Follow me!" Hideki commanded us, leading us outside the train.

"What's going on?" Masaki asked me.

"I... don't know..." I replied, my heart sinking as I only imagined what would be happening up ahead. I didn't want to imagine what was going on.

Masaki nodded. "I just hope it's nothing too bad..."

When all of us exited the train, we saw only the most horrifying sight awaiting us outside.

The tree that stood outside the lodge, with Saeko's body pinned against the trunk, held up by a spear pinned through her stomach. Her dead eyes read nothing but pain and suffering as her blood slowly dripped onto the snow.

"Mother of God..." Hideki whispered.

"No..." Toko muttered, clenching onto the handle of their gun.

"Saeko..." Daquan whispered, tears beginning to form in his eyes. "Saeko!"

 _BING-BONG, BING-BONG!_

The monitor on the wall outside the lodge flickered on, showing Monokuma drinking a glass of water again. "A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time has passed, a class trial will begin!" As the monitor shut off, everybody went silent.

"Which of you..." Toko began as a tear dripped down their eye. "Which of you did this?!" They screamed, pointing their gun at all of us.

No one had an answer.

Why would anyone do such a thing?

After we had already pledged not to let this happen.

Furthermore... why would anybody kill Saeko?


	13. Chapter 2: Investigation

Everyone else gathered around, and we all stood around Saeko's body for a few silent seconds, no one quite sure where or how to begin.

"I suppose the first thing we should do is take a look at the Monokuma File," Hideki suggested, pulling out his E-Handbook. I obliged, also pulling out my own E-Handbook and looking at the Monokuma File.

I saw Saeko's full-body picture in the Monokuma File, grayed out with the word "DEAD" plastered over it. There was a large pink circle in her abdominal area, and a smaller one on the side of her head. Next to the picture read,

 _Monokuma File #2:_  
*The victim was Saeko Nura. The time of death is estimated around 3:10 a.m. The body was discovered outside the snow lodge. The cause of death was impalement through the stomach by a sharp, long object. Hours before death, it appears her head was struck by a heavy blunt object.

Sen scratched his chin and looked at Saeko's body, pulling out a pair of blue rubber gloves and putting them on his hands as he slightly pulled her body along the spear. There was a straw rope tied along the handle of the spear and around Saeko's body, keeping her suspended against the tree. "Hmm, just as I thought. It would take quite a bit of force to spear someone in the abdomen, have it come out the other side, and stick it through the bark of a tree," Sen muttered. He slid his hand along Saeko's torso, sticking his fingers into the wound.

Toko wretched, holding their stomach as their eyes widened. "I think I'm gonna be sick..."

"I was too late... if only I could have saved her..." Sen lamented.

"Anything you've learned, Doc?" Daquan asked him.

"The wound is overall bigger than the spear. This tells me that she was actually struck more than once, possibly in a different location than here," Sen informed us. I took the time to remember this information.

Yuki looked down at the snow beneath Saeko's body, which had been dyed pink with Saeko's blood. "There's somethin' real weird about this snow," She told me. Yuki rolled up a ball of snow in her hand, which turned to slush as she tried to ball it up. "See that? Even if it starts to heat up, regular snow doesn't do that. At least not that fast. There's somethin' real odd about that if you ask me,"

Rai immediately butted in. "Yeah, I can agree with that! Last night, I was making the weather chart for the next month, and last night was supposed to hail around this time. There wasn't supposed to be any snow,"

If it wasn't real snow, and it wasn't even supposed to snow, just what was going on?

"Something else I might add," Shiro began, clearing their throat. "It's actually not only possible, but also easy to create snow using liquid nitrogen and water. But I don't know who could have possibly had access to it, because I was in the chemistry lab until 10 p.m. and didn't see anyone go in,"

Hideki scratched his chin. "Damn, it doesn't really look like we're getting anywhere with this," He muttered to himself. "Kanon, you and I are gonna get to the bottom of this," He told me, grabbing onto my wrist.

"Hey!" I shrieked, trying to pull away from him. However, I could not free myself from his iron grip.

"Let go of her!" Masaki tried to come to my rescue, rushing in to get in between Hideki and me.

Hideki huffed and then let go of my wrist, glaring at Masaki. I breathed a sigh of relief, my wrist still aching.

"Fine. But I need Kanon for my investigation this time," Hideki grumbled. "Don't get in the way of this unless you want us all to be executed,"

Masaki shrugged. "Excuse me for not wanting my best friend to be hurt. Fine, you two can investigate this time, but I swear, if you hurt her or make her feel uncomfortable, you'll wish you hadn't," Masaki raised a fist to Hideki, who scoffed and turned away.

"An empty threat from an empty person, real endearing," He laughed. "Come on, Kanon, we've got lots to find out this time,"

I reluctantly went along with Hideki as he started asking various people about where they were during all this time.

"Alright, Toko, Daquan, you two seemed real close to Saeko. What are your accounts of everything happening?"

Toko glared at Hideki and gave a sigh. "Daquan and me attended the meeting, and Saeko left before it could start, sayin' she was meetin' up with someone. Daquan and I tried to ask who it was, but she wouldn't answer. After 'bout an hour, we tried knockin' on her door, but she wouldn't let us in,"

Daquan nodded. "Then that's when we heard her scream, around 10:30 p.m. She opened the door for us - me, Toko, Sen, and you. A few minutes later, Azizah and Kanon arrived,"

Hideki nodded. "Okay... Then where were you after she was attacked?"

"I went to bed, I was too tired after all that," Toko replied.

"I was hanging out with Kaemon all night," Daquan replied. I raised an eyebrow - how could _anyone_ be bothered to hang out with him?!

Hideki scoffed. "That's an obvious lie, nobody would hang out with him,"

Kaemon rolled his eyes at Hideki's statement. "Like it or not, it's true. I can confirm it. He was trying to see if he could livestream the outside of Saeko's room,"

Daquan nodded. "Believe it or not, Kaemon actually tried to help me out with it. After a few hours, we finally got it to work-"

Suddenly, Monokuma appeared in front of us out of nowhere. "Hey now, who said you all could go and set up cameras of your own?! That's my thing!" He scolded Kaemon.

Kaemon shrugged his shoulders. "Not sure. You never told us that was one of the rules,"

Monokuma fumed at us, waving his arms around but unable to say anything intelligible. "Fine! But, you better not abuse this power, or there will be absolute hell to pay!"

Without saying anything else, Monokuma disappeared and left us alone again.

"So, Toko went to bed, and Daquan and Kaemon were in the game room... what did you guys see?" I asked them.

"Nothing. The two of us watched until four in the mornin', neither of us saw anything. After that, the two of us just headed to bed," Daquan accounted.

Hideki nodded, scratching his chin. "Kanon, you get all that?" He asked me.

"Uh, yeah," I replied.

"What about you, Kanon? Where were you during all this?" Hideki asked me.

"Well, I just remember being with Aiko and Rai. Saeko said she was meeting with somebody, but she had a really sensitive secret. So she wanted to talk with them in person about it," I told him.

Hideki nodded and gave a grin. "Actually... that's just what we needed,"

"Huh?" I asked him, trying to make sense of what was going on.

"Don't you get it? The person she met up with is the person whose secret she had, and that person is incredibly likely to also be her killer," Hideki informed me.

I nodded, thinking of what happened the night before. "So you, me, Masaki, Kenji, Tame, Ryo, and Yuki are out," I replied, remembering that all of them had their secrets revealed. "So that means it had to be someone whose _wasn't_."

Hideki nodded. "There we go! In fact, the easiest way of solving this one is to find out whose secret everybody had. Then we work backwards from there, and the one that's missing is the one Saeko had-"

Before Hideki could finish, Monokuma burst in again.

"Upupupu~! That sounds nice and easy and all, but for this investigation and trial, nobody will be allowed to say whose secret they had if nobody else knew about them yesterday! Otherwise, they wouldn't really be secrets, would they?" Monokuma told us.

"Shit... that's gonna make this harder," Hideki muttered.

I guess we had to solve this one the old-fashioned way then.

"Well, we should probably ask everybody else about where they were," I suggested. "We should also check out Saeko's room, and there's something awfully suspicious about the hallways as well," I told him.

"Yeah..." Hideki replied, wiping off his sunglasses. "It was all clean, like brand-new. Even though it was Kaemon's night to clean, and he said he wanted no part in cleaning,"

I nodded back at Hideki. "Yeah, yeah. And there's something else concerning me too. Toko and Daquan said that Saeko's room was locked, but after she got hurt, they were somehow able to come in,"

A smile spread across Hideki's face. "See, now we're getting somewhere,"

With all this in mind, the two of us continued asking people where they had been the previous night. The two of us approached Aiko and Rai, both of whom had been awfully quiet this whole time.

"You two, where were you this entire time?" Hideki asked them.

Aiko scratched her chin and gave a shrug. "I honestly don't remember," She replied, giving her signature imp laugh.

Hideki glared at her and raised his fists up. "If you don't give me an answer right away, I'll make you wish you did,"

"Hey!" I tugged on Hideki's arm, trying to stop him from using force on Aiko. "Just because you're an interrogator doesn't mean you can do whatever you want to people!"

Rai instantly spoke up. "We were doing the cleansing ritual! Aiko drew a magic circle in the slush by the hill, and the two of us waited in there while doing some weird latin chants all night!" He testified.

Hideki nodded. "Okay... And did you happen to see anybody else during this ritual?"

"Well... We invited Hikooki to go with us, and he stayed for a few minutes before leaving. But that gives Aiko and I an alibi for the night, and Hikooki an alibi until 9 p.m.," Rai informed us. "We also saw Guadalupe run past us at around 8 p.m. and head back inside the train around 9:30 p.m.,"

Hideki lowered his fists and cleared his throat. "Got it, no further questions," He replied to the Ultimate Meteorologist. Hideki then turned around to face Yuki and Guadalupe. "Alright, Yuki, your secret was revealed last night, but Guadalupe, you're still on the chopping block. Where were you last night?"

"Qué?" Guadalupe asked, tilting her head. "I was with Yuki most of the night, but she passed out again, so I went for a run. I saw Rai, Aiko, and Hikooki sitting in a circle when I passed by them, and I saw Utamuro, Amy-chan, and Tomoe in the lounge, and ran some laps up and down the hill. When I ran back to the train to get a drink of water, it was just Rai and Aiko,"

I nodded at what Guadalupe was saying, though this still didn't really make much sense to me. I looked at the path from the train all the way to Saeko's body, looking at all the footprints that lined the area. I tried looking for any footprints that would have pointed us in the right direction, such as any that went directly from the train to the tree, but none of them fit the criteria. In fact, if I had remembered correctly, there weren't any footprints from the train to the tree in the first place, besides Rai's.

"There's something that's bothering me," I told to Hideki. "Do you remember seeing any footprints from here to the train in the snow before we got here, besides Rai's?"

Hideki shook his head. "I don't recall that..." He replied, looking back at the spear again. "Kanon, look at this spear again," He told me as I inspected the spear once more. I saw a large handprint in the middle of the spear, with a splash of blood in the center. "See this? Somehow, the killer must have had to kill her close-up. The rope tied around her is further proof of this," He informed me.

I nodded once more, snapping a picture of the spear in Saeko's abdomen. "Anyway, I think we've investigated all there is to see out here," I said to Hideki. "Why don't we go check in the train and in Saeko's room?" I asked him.

"Good call," He replied. The two of us walked back into the train, looking at the hallway again. Once again, we noticed that there was no sign that anyone had been there at all; the carpet was clean and free of any litter or junk. "Yeah, there's no way Kaemon could have done this," Hideki muttered to me. "There's no doubt about it, the killer did it," He then looked through a trash can in the corner.

"What could possibly be in the trash can?" I asked him.

"There's bound to be garbage and whatnot in here from the night before," Hideki replied. "Hey Kanon, look at this," He told me as I looked into the trash can. There was nothing particularly of interest in there, besides a broken glass lamp.

"A lamp?" I asked him.

Hideki nodded. "Look above us," He pointed upward, and I looked up to see multiple small shelves lining the walls, each of them with lamps on them except for one in the center. "That's a damning piece of evidence right there,"

I nodded back. "Well, I don't think there's particularly much else to see here. Why don't we investigate Saeko's room?"

Hideki shook his head. "It's locked. I don't think we'll be able to enter-"

Right before Hideki could finish his thought, Monokuma burst into the hallway from out of nowhere again.

"Upupupu~! For this investigation, the victim's room will be unlocked for the time being! Feel free to investigate at your own discretion!" He told us.

"...Never mind then," Hideki mumbled as the two of us entered her room. While it looked mostly similar to last night, _something_ about it seemed off. I couldn't tell exactly _what_ , though.

"Hey, where y'all goin'?!" shouted Toko from behind us. I jumped at their voice as they entered the room.

"Beat it, cowboy," Hideki told them. "You'll just get in the way,"

"Oh yeah? What if I told y'all that this room is outta order?" Toko asked us.

"Huh?" Hideki asked. "What do you mean?"

Toko adjusted their glasses for a second and pointed at Saeko's display of anime figures. "These were more centered at first," Then they pointed at the old video game cartridges behind a glass display. "These were standing upright, now they're toppled over," Then finally picked up a gold coin on the ground. "And _this_ was on the shelf,"

I nodded at Toko's statement. How was Saeko's room all messed up?

"Hey, look what I found," Hideki called out, pulling out an E-Handbook from underneath Saeko's bed. "It's Saeko's E-Handbook. There's got to be some significance to this,"

I wasn't sure exactly what was relevant about Saeko's E-Handbook, but I did know that our doors would only open with them.

"Somethin's botherin' me about her bed, too," Toko muttered before they flipped over their mattress. They shrieked as we saw a horrifying sight - a bloody hole in the center of the mattress.

"...Whoa..." Hideki exhaled, the three of us going silent.

I looked around the room for anything else which would be of note, but all that stood out was the large pink travel bag. Even that didn't look particularly odd except for the wheels being slightly wet.

"There's one last thing I wanted to bring up," Toko began. "See, when we came in here, Saeko said somethin'. She said, "He... He...". I dunno exactly what that means, but we gotta remember it. It might be a clue,"

"Well, I think that's it... even though it doesn't look like we covered much ground..." Hideki muttered. Just as Hideki finished that thought, the monitor in Saeko's room came on.

"Ahem. Investigation time is now over," Monokuma said on the screen. "Please meet me in the main room, and then the Class Trial shall begin!"

"Fuck, I can't say I quite know who did it yet," Hideki muttered. "But, I know I'll solve this one. Come on. I've got some leads already,"

The three of us headed into the main room, where we regrouped with the other 18 students still alive. A nervous silence befell all of us as the same walls from before enclosed around us, trapping us in an elevator once again.

"Did you and Hideki find anything?" Masaki asked me. "Did he hurt you?"

I shook my head. "I promise, I'm fine," I told him. "...I think we're closer to figuring this out, but I still don't have any clue who could have done this. We need to discuss it more,"

Masaki nodded back. "I believe in you, Kanon,"

After what felt like forever, all of us arrived at the trial room once more.

It was time for us to solve the murder of Saeko Nura, the Ultimate Collector.


	14. Chapter 2: Trial and Execution

Once again, all of us took our assigned podiums, this time with Michiru's and Saeko's places being replaced with signs with their grayed-out pictures on them, with a pink "X" splashed across. It sent a shiver down my spine, seeing the eerie images of now three of our dead friends.

"Now then, let's begin with an explanation of how the class trial works!" Monokuma began, taking his seat as I began to think about my opening statement. Looking around all the students still alive, there was only one who could have killed Saeko. But who could it have been? "Well, I _would_ explain it, but I'm sure you all know how it works at this point, so it would just be insulting to do it all over again. Anyway... let's begin with this, shall we?"

 **Phase 1: Nonstop Debate:**

Hideki was the first to speak up. "Let's begin. Unlike last time, we don't exactly have a place to start from right off the bat,"

"The last time most of us saw her was at the meeting, right?" asked Shiro. "She left early because she went to go meet with somebody,"

I nodded. "Yeah. Some of us did see her later, though, so let's start from when we last saw her. Then we can begin to narrow things down,"

"Obviously, most of us last saw her at the meeting. Did anyone else see her later, besides the person she met up with?" asked Hikooki.

Rai perked his head up at Hikooki's question. "Yeah, Aiko, Kanon, and I actually saw her a little after the meeting ended! She asked us how to approach the person whose secret she got," He replied. "Aiko suggested that Saeko go right ahead and be honest,"

"And that turned out so bad..." Toko muttered in response. "Since that person is prolly who got her killed..."

Hideki gave a chuckle. "Y'know who seems real suspicious? _You_ , Toko,"

Toko gasped, covering their mouth in silence.

"Toko?" asked Masaki. "That's a really weird assumption. They were best friends with Saeko,"

Hikooki nodded. "It's not a bad assumption. There's lots of evidence that points toward them if you think about it,"

"So, to sum it up," began Kaemon. "Saeko met up with her killer, the person whose secret she got, and got attacked at night. Overnight, she was killed, and her body was found outside, tied to the tree,"

Yuki nodded. "Yeah, and for some reason, there was snow outside,"

"So it must have snowed overnight!" Amy-chan piped up. I suddenly remembered what Rai, Yuki, and Shiro had all said about the snow.

"N-No!" I refuted her. Everyone turned my way, anticipating my argument. "Um... that's wrong. It didn't actually snow last night, Rai and Yuki can confirm this,"

Rai smiled back at me. "Correct, it was supposed to _hail_ last night,"

"Yeah, the snow felt fake," Yuki added on.

Amy-chan's eyes darted back-and-forth as she gave a nervous chuckle. "O-Oh... I feel like such a _baka_..."

"What does that tell us, exactly?" Hideki asked. "Do you think the killer was trying to mask the exact time they killed her?"

"Hehehe..." Aiko giggled. "I think it's pointless to discuss something like this so early on. Why don't we first figure out how our keeper of the horrible secret committed this atrocious act?"

"Trying to cover yourself up?" Hideki asked her. "After all, _your_ secret was never revealed to us either,"

Aiko gave an imp-like giggle at Hideki's question. "I actually don't remember if you guys figured out my secret. In fact, I don't remember what my secret _was_!"

"She's really not all there, is she?" Kaemon asked.

Hideki chuckled back. "Classic, playing dumb. If you can't remember what happened, you probably can't remember if you met up with her or not,"

"Que? I don't really think she could have done it," Guadalupe replied. My eyes widened as Guadalupe said this - she was right, it couldn't have been Aiko!

"I-I agree with that!" I replied to Guadalupe. "Aiko actually has an alibi!"

"She does?" asked Kaemon.

"She does?" Tame also asked.

"I do?" Aiko asked.

"Yeah, I was there with you!" Rai replied to her. "We were doing your cleansing ritual, remember? We sat in the magic circle you drew on the ground and chanted these weird latin phrases for hours,"

"And if I recall," I added on. "Azizah woke me up around ten p.m. to check on Saeko _after_ she had gotten hurt. You were with Rai at the time,"

"Oh!" Aiko giggled again. "Guess I'm safe for this one, aren't I?"

Daquan scratched his chin. "So the meeting ended around six, and Saeko got hurt around ten, and nobody saw her between those times... this means there was around a four-hour period for her to meet up with her killer,"

"What if someone sneaked in there and killed her when she least expected it?" Kenji asked. I immediately spotted the contradiction in Kenji's argument.

"N-No, that's wrong!" I replied.

"Hmm? Did I miss something?" He asked me with a glare.

I remembered what Daquan and Toko had said about Saeko's room. "According to Toko and Daquan, Saeko kept her room locked," I told Kenji.

"Yeah!" Daquan added on. "We tried knockin' and callin' her name, but no matter what, she wouldn't open up!"

Toko nodded in return.

"Well, this is just getting nowhere," Hideki replied with a huff. "But obviously, you two didn't hang around her room all night, otherwise you would have seen who she met up with. When did you leave her door?"

"Around eight-thirty or so," Toko replied. "Then the two of us just took different directions. I hung out in my room while Daquan went to his,"

"So if anything," Hideki replied, his grin growing wider. "You're still on the chopping block,"

"N-No way!" They protested. "I'd never kill Saeko, the two of us were pardners!"

Masaki nodded back. "We should stop looking at this as one big picture, and start looking at it in four separate times. First, from five to ten, when she met up with her killer. Then, around ten, when you guys found her hurt in her room, then overnight, when she died, and finally, the time we found her dead. If we tackle each of those individually rather than looking at it all at once, the big picture should come together,"

Kaemon sighed. "So, whose secrets were revealed last night?"

I thought back to the previous night. "Mine, Masaki's, Kenji's, Tame's, Yuki's, Hideki's, and Ryo's," I replied. "So all of us have alibis for this time, as Saeko couldn't have possibly met up with any of us,"

Ryo clicked his tongue and nodded. "Gotcha. So that leaves everyone else, then?"

Rai spoke up again. "I also had Shiro's secret, but they left before I could read it,"

Shiro gasped. "Rai, please, quiet-"

Monokuma interrupted them. "Hey! Rai, didn't I say that you weren't allowed to say whose secret you had?!"

"I told everyone I had it yesterday, during the meeting!" Rai protested.

Monokuma growled. "Ughhh... Fine. But if anyone says whose secret they had, and they _weren't_ part of the meeting, I promise I won't be so easy on you! So... without further ado, let's continue,"

"So it had to be somebody whose secret was never revealed at the meeting," Ryo muttered. "Rai, Aiko, and Guadalupe also have alibis, as do Toko and Daquan,"

"And around 10 p.m., Saeko got hurt," Azizah recalled. "Kanon, Toko, Daquan, Sen, Hideki, and myself all went into her room to check up on her,"

Sen's eyes perked up. "Yes! I believe it was Toko who heard her scream, and then we went into her room to check up on her.

 _Wait a minute..._ I thought to myself. _How did she open the door if she had hit her head too hard to even finish her sentence..._

"Yeah, and then Saeko opened the door for us!" Toko stated. I gasped.

"No, wait! That's wrong!" I called back. Toko looked back at me, raising an eyebrow. "Could Saeko _really_ have opened the door herself? She was too weak to even finish her sentences, how could she have possibly gotten up?"

"How did Saeko open the door then?" Sen asked me.

I had to really think about this one...

 **Phase 2: Logic Dive:**

I concentrated as hard as I could as I tried to piece together exactly how this would happen, considering every nuance and every possibility the killer could have taken.

 _Who opened the door?_

* _Saeko_  
* _The Killer_

I had already decided Saeko couldn't have opened the door herself. It had to have been _The Killer_.

 _Where was the killer hiding when the door opened?_

* _In the travel bag_  
* _Behind the display case_

While either one would have been difficult, I imagined it would be easier to crawl into a huge travel bag than behind a display case. Not to mention, Saeko's display case was transparent, and the travel bag was not. If the killer had kept quiet, they could have hidden inside without detection. It had to be _In the travel bag_.

 _How did the killer open the door?_

* _By hand_  
* _Thrown object_

I couldn't imagine it being easy to open the door by hand, and quickly hiding inside a travel bag a few feet from the door without being detected. Furthermore, given that the doors opened with the E-Handbooks, it was certainly possible that the killer could have just thrown the E-Handbook at the door and unlocked it. My answer was _Thrown object_.

"I've got it!" I called out, piecing together my answer.

 **Phase 3: Nonstop Debate:**

"Okay... the killer was inside Saeko's room the whole time," I told everyone. "He could have hidden inside the huge travel bag, and opened the door throwing Saeko's E-Handbook,"

"Egad, is that true?!" Sen asked.

"Interesting..." Tomoe replied to me. "We sometimes have people do that on the sets of movies, so that they can come in during scenes we need to film in one take. There's only so much editing can do,"

"So... The killer was in there the entire time?" asked Azizah. "That is... quite unnerving to consider..."

"What if the killer was among the group that went inside the room, and joined everyone amidst the confusion?" Ryo suggested.

"Not possible," Hideki replied. "I was there, we all entered through the door,"

"So we figured that out," Asa muttered. "But, pray tell, what of Miss Nura's wound?"

Sen scratched his chin. "I initially diagnosed it as a fall, but this opens up a whole new door of possibilities," He replied.

"Actually, now that I think about it," Masaki replied. "It's possible that our culprit hit her on the head themselves, probably in retaliation to hearing their secret revealed to them. And while the blow was not fatal, it was still enough to seriously damage her,"

"Then later on, the killer would have had to attack her fatally," Hikooki replied. "But when?"

"Probably after taking her outside, where they stabbed her to death!" Tame tacked on.

Wait, that wasn't correct! "No, that's wrong!" I replied to Tame.

"Huh?" She asked me.

"It's simple. Her room was a complete mess, which shows clear evidence of a struggle-"

Before I could finish my sentence, Kaemon cut me off.

"Cut the crap!" He shouted out.

 **Phase 4: Rebuttal Showdown:**

"Don't be such a fucking idiot!" Kaemon called out.

"Wh-what do you mean?" I asked him.

"You know _exactly_ what I mean," He replied to me. "Killing Saeko in her room, not possible,"

I raised an eyebrow, trying to listen to Kaemon's argument.

"Daquan and I watched her room all night!"

I nodded at him, this was a well-formulated argument. That didn't mean it was correct, however.

"Not a single time did anyone enter or exit her room!"

I wasn't sure how this tied into his argument, but I just had to press on.

"That obviously means that our killer took her outside _before_ Daquan and I watched the cameras!"

I sighed, trying to think of how I was going to refute Kaemon. "That doesn't prove that the killer did all that before! The killer could have carried her out _after_! Her disorganized room is further proof of this!"

Kaemon shook his head again. "You don't get it, do you? If anything, her disorganized room is proof of _my_ argument! Because that means the killer never went back!"

I clicked my tongue, trying to come up with a rebuttal. There had to be something that proved Saeko was killed in her room...

"So admit it, there's no evidence that Saeko was killed in her room! Meaning that Azizah coulda done it or something,"

"I'll cut through those words!" I shouted back, suddenly remembering the hole in Saeko's mattress. "Alright, listen up!"

Kaemon scoffed. "You've got nothing,"

"Actually, I've got something," I replied to him. "There was a bloody hole on the underside of Saeko's mattress. What was the murder weapon? A spear,"

Kaemon went speechless. "But... that means..."

I nodded again. "And if you recall, Sen's autopsy revealed that she had actually been stabbed _twice_. There wouldn't be any real reason to stab Saeko twice if they were just going to kill her outside to begin with,"

 **Phase 5: Nonstop Debate:**

"So, the puzzle is starting to come together," Masaki commented. "Let's recap what we know. It had to be somebody whose secret was never revealed. Saeko met up with her eventual killer sometime between eight-thirty and ten, then she was found injured sometime after 10. It couldn't have been anybody who checked up on her either. That leaves just two more phases for us to figure out - overnight and the cover-up,"

"Wait, why did Kaemon accuse me?" Azizah asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I was wrong, let's move on," Kaemon cut her off, not even acknowledging her question.

"I believe Mister Nakama stated that he and Mister Brown watched Saeko's door overnight?" Asa began.

Hideki nodded. "Yeah, Kaemon did mention that,"

"Guess that means we can add Kaemon to the list of safe people," Masaki replied.

"Goddammit..." Yuki muttered under her breath. "I was kinda hopin' it was him,"

"Shut the fuck up!" Kaemon shouted back at her.

"You shut the fuck up!" Yuki shouted back.

"Is this really the time or place to be having such a fight?" Utamuro asked the two of them.

"Since Kaemon and I didn't see anything, that means that the killer remained in the room until the two of us went to bed," Daquan piped up. "Lucky bastard, there's no way he shoulda known..."

Shiro nodded back. "I was in the lab until I went to bed, and since we've established that our culprit had to go in there at some point, it definitely had to be really late when the killer carried out their plan,"

"Wait, why do you say the killer went into the lab?" asked Hikooki, raising an eyebrow.

Shiro shook their head. "Like Kanon, Rai, and Yuki said before, there was no way that it really snowed outside. The easiest and most convenient way I can think of to make artificial snow is to mix liquid nitrogen and water. Two things you can easily acquire onboard this train. Furthermore, it's really common knowledge that the two can make fake snow when combined, so it's not outside the realm of possibilities,"

Daquan nodded. "Damn... the killer really went through a lot just to carry out this one murder..."

"What did the killer do? Carry her out and pin her against the tree?" Rai asked.

"I think that she was carried inside something. It's too much work to carry a dead body, go back, grab a spear and rope, and try to rearrange her room without getting caught in the span of three hours-" Kaemon suggested.

Wait, there was evidence that pointed to this being true!

"I agree with that!" I consented with Kaemon.

"Whoa, really?" Kaemon asked.

"Yes, I do!" I replied to him. "Hideki, Toko, do you remember the travel bag?"

"The one our culprit was hiding in?" asked Hideki.

"Yes, that one!" I replied. "The wheels were wet. That's good enough evidence that the travel bag was taken outside, despite there being no reason for that bag to go outside overnight,"

Toko nodded. "Ah, I think I get it now..."

"Further evidence is the lamp in the garbage," I added on. "The killer must have bumped into the lamp, as that bag would have been really heavy and easy to lose your grip on. Must have been a misstep,"

"Which is why the room was clean!" Yuki called out.

"You're still cleaning the hallway tomorrow," Utamuro whispered.

"So now this means that we've figured out _how_ the killer did this," Masaki began. "Now we need to narrow down the suspects. Kanon, Kenji, Tame, Ryo, Hideki, Yuki, myself, Rai, Aiko, Shiro, Guadalupe, Toko, Daquan, Sen, Azizah, and Kaemon are all out,"

"That leaves..." Kenji began, counting on his fingers. "Tomoe, Hikooki, Utamuro, Asa, and Amy-chan,"

"Actually, I saw Utamuro, Tomoe, and Amy-chan on my run," said Guadalupe. "And I saw Hikooki with Rai and Aiko at one point,"

Everyone then turned toward Asa, whose podium seemed to move toward the center of the circle.

"Oh dear... it appears I've gotten myself into a bad situation, doesn't it?" Asa asked.

Hikooki crossed his arms. "Cut the crap, Asa. You don't have an alibi. Therefore, you killed her,"

Asa shook her head. "Mister Kawata, you must be mistaken. I certainly had no involvement in the murder of Miss Nura,"

Hideki raised his eyebrows. "Wait just a damn minute," He began. "I just remembered something that _proves_ Asa didn't do this,"

"It's not my secret, is it?" Asa asked. "Because that would be quite the misfortune for you..."

Hideki shook his head. "Nope. Kanon, think back to when we went into Saeko's room. Can you recall something that clears Asa's name?"

I closed my eyes and entered a deep thought once more. I had to remember something that would clear Asa's name.

 **Phase 6: Hangman's Gambit**

I thought back to when Azizah pulled me back into Saeko's room. There had to have been _something_ that would prove Asa wasn't the killer, though it would be simple. Something I might have brushed off at first.

 _What proves Asa didn't do it?_

F-I-N-A-L W-O-R-D-S-

"I've got it!" I called out, remembering Saeko's last words to us.

 **Phase 7: Nonstop Debate:**

"What is it?" Asa asked me, tilting her head.

"When I was with the others in Saeko's room," I began. "She was so weak she couldn't even finish her sentence. She could only say one word. 'He'. Asa, you're a woman,"

Asa nodded. "Yes, I am!" She replied, smiling and wiping her forehead. "That's quite the relief, dear. Thank you,"

Hideki scratched his chin. "And with Tomoe and Amy-chan both being girls, that leaves only two people, Utamuro and Hikooki,"

"Didn't you get the memo?" Utamuro asked him. "Hikooki and I both have alibis,"

Then I remembered - Guadalupe didn't see them all at once like she did with Rai and Aiko. They disappeared before she could make it back onto the train.

"No, that's wrong!" I replied to Utamuro. "No, you aren't safe. Guadalupe didn't testify to seeing either of you the whole night, isn't that right?" I asked her.

"Sí!" Guadalupe replied, nodding back in my direction. "By the time I ran back to the train, Utamuro and Hikooki were both gone!"

Hikooki and Utamuro both went silent. Of the two of them, who was it?

Then I remembered - One of them was with his friends, the other was on his own. Which meant...

"I know who did it," I began, looking at the culprit.

"Who did it?" Hideki asked me. "Not like we're counting on you with our lives if you get this wrong, y'know,"

I nodded. "It was... Hikooki Kawata. You're the only one!"

"What?" Hikooki asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What?!" Rai screamed.

" _Nani_?!" Amy-chan shouted.

"Hikooki... Please tell her she's wrong..." Rai pleaded.

Hikooki blinked and shook his head. "...No. I didn't do it," He whispered, looking down.

"That all ya got?!" Toko shouted out him. "Yer life's on the line fer possibly killin' my best friend, and all ya can say is that ya didn't do it?!"

Hikooki shook his head again and glared at me. "I _didn't_ do it,"

I glared right back at Hikooki. "The evidence lines up. You're the only one who could have done it-"

"Shut up," Hikooki told me, a little bit more firmly this time. "You have no idea what the hell you're saying. I'm gonna prove it,"

 **Phase 8: Rebuttal Showdown:**

"What else you got, Hikooki?" I asked him, ready to refute his statement. "If you've got anything else to add, you better say it,"

Hikooki nodded. "Certainly. Your argument rests on the claim that, by coincidence, Saeko's dying words were referring to a person,"

I nodded. It was shaky, but it still suspicious.

"You also seem hell-bent on the idea that Utamuro had an alibi, _despite_ not being seen after 9 p.m.,"

Again, that did seem rather coincidental, but still-

"Finally, it's _seriously_ coincidental that I would have been able to do all of that, without getting caught. It's quite the risk,"

I nodded again. Was my argument falling apart on him? It would have been rather difficult...

"Doesn't make it impossible!" I replied. "The evidence lines up perfectly against you!"

"Bullshit!" Hikooki shouted back. "You're just assuming things! Like Saeko's dying words, she could have been talking about _anybody!_ "

Then I thought about it - Saeko's dying words weren't just talking about the gender of the person.

"I'll cut through your words!" I called back to Hikooki. "No... now that I think about it, Saeko's dying words were aimed _specifically_ at you,"

Hikooki tried to speak up, but stuttered over his words. "Wh-what makes you think that?"

I shook my head. "He... He... It sounds _exactly_ like the beginning of your name,"

"...It could have been Hideki's name!" Hikooki protested.

"Did you get none of this?" I asked him. "Hideki had his secret revealed _and_ entered Saeko's room. He had no part in this whatsoever,"

Hikooki went silent again, as did the rest of us.

"Hikooki... please..." Rai whispered. "You're one of my only friends. You need to defend yourself!" He shouted out. "Please! You can still survive!"

Hikooki took in a deep breath and glared at me, his face growing red.

"What the _fuck_ do you think you're saying?!" He shouted, sounding genuinely angry. "You're wrong! You're fucking wrong! You're wrong, I say!"

 **Phase 9: Panic Talk Action:**

"You're wrong!" Hikooki shouted at me. It looked like he wasn't going to listen to me anytime soon... I just had to sit back and wait for him to wear himself out. "You're wrong, I say! All your evidence is based on coincidence!"

I nodded, just listening to his words. He clenched his fists as tears began to run down his eyes.

"Fuck you!" He shouted at me. "Fuck all of you who think it's me! I had zero part in this! Zero! You just _want_ to accuse me!"

We certainly didn't _want_ to accuse him at all. If anything, we were hoping he _didn't_ do it.

"You have no real evidence! Nothing that innately proves I did any of this! You're jumping to conclusions!"

What was he going on about this time?

"You... you..." It sounded like he was running out of things to shout at me. "...Like that snow bullshit. Why would I go through the process of making fake snow and spreading it over the crime scene?"

Now that I thought about it, it certainly seemed odd that somebody would do it. It didn't really mask the time it took place, and it was quite a hassle.

...But there was _one_ thing.

TO - COVER - HIKOOKI'S - TRACKS

"I've got it!" I replied. "Hikooki... Isn't it weird that there were no footprints before we went out to find her body, despite her body clearly being in the open, and that the hallway was clean despite it being _Kaemon's_ night to clean?"

Hikooki went silent. "You... still don't know that was me..."

"The evidence lines up, Hikooki," Hideki replied, grinning at the Ultimate Pilot. Tears began to run down Hikooki's face as his argument fell apart.

"No... This... This isn't how it's supposed to go..." Hikooki muttered.

Rai gasped. "Hikooki... Please, tell me this isn't true..."

Toko crossed their arms and shook their head at Hikooki. "Fuck you! You killed Saeko!"

"Anyway..." I began. "I think I know how to sum up this case,"

 **Phase 10: Climax Reasoning:**

"Act I: This case begins around five p.m. yesterday," I began, recalling every event from this case. "Most of us met up in the Dining Hall to exchange secrets. Just before we could begin, Saeko Nura left the room, saying she was going to meet up with somebody. A few others left the room as well - including the blackened. While the meeting continued as normal, it was brought to a close when we got into an argument, and ended early,

"Act II: Only thirty minutes later, I met with Saeko again, along with Rai and Aiko. That's when we found out Saeko had gotten a very sensitive secret, which we later found out to be the secret belonging to the blackened. Unfortunately, this would be the last either of them saw of Saeko as we all suggested she approach them with honest intentions. Her door was locked for the next few hours, preventing anybody from going into her room.

"Act III: A few hours later, Saeko met with the blackened, hoping to talk with them about her secret. Unfortunately, this went south quickly as the culprit hit her over the head, severely injuring her. Saeko let out a loud scream, prompting Toko, Daquan, Sen, Hideki, Azizah, and I to come to her aid. The blackened, cornered, did what he could to hid himself - sneak inside of a large travel bag in Saeko's room. To further the illusion, the blackened tossed Saeko's E-Handbook at the door, unlocking it and letting us inside. Unfortunately for us, none of us ever saw the blackened in her room. Dismissing her wound as just a fall, we had no idea what Saeko was actually in for. We left her alone for the night, though Daquan had a different idea,

"Act IV: Only a few minutes later, Daquan, with the help of Kaemon, set up surveillance of Saeko's door, watching for any change. The two of them waited for hours, but around three a.m., the two of them left and went to bed for the night. This turned out to be a fatal mistake, as while still inside Saeko's room, the blackened exited the bag and impaled Saeko through the torso, killing the poor girl. From there, the blackened set out to cover their tracks,

"Act V: In the dead of night, the blackened placed Saeko's corpse, the spear, a rope, Saeko's E-Handbook, some water, and a case of liquid nitrogen in the travel bag they had been hiding inside of. They rolled the bag through the hallway, and accidentally knocked over a lamp on a shelf, breaking it as it shattered upon the ground. This would be one of the biggest mistakes the blackened would make. Once outside, the killer impaled Saeko's corpse in roughly the same place, and tied her corpse around the tree. Of course, all this bag rolling and walking left a lot of tracks on the ground. The blackened, mixing liquid nitrogen and water, sprinkled fake snow over their tracks to create the illusion that it had snowed overnight, but mostly to mask the method they used to carry her outside,

"Act VI: In order to cover up any evidence they had left behind, the killer went through the process of cleaning up the hallway, even with the little time they had left. The killer returned the bag and E-Handbook to Saeko's room and flipped over their mattress, and tried to put her room back to its original state. Of course, the blackened didn't quite get every detail correct, leaving behind lots of evidence. If the killer had managed to put Saeko's room back together better, they might have been able to create an unsolvable murder. However, that one piece of evidence allowed us to work backwards and figure out exactly who it was... the Ultimate Pilot, Hikooki Kawata,"

 **Trial End:**

Hikooki went completely silent as tears ran down his face. "You... you got it right..." He muttered.

"Hikooki, no..." Rai whispered, tears forming in his eyes as well. "Please... please tell me you're wrong! You couldn't! You wouldn't!"

"I did..." Hikooki replied. "It was wrong of me... it was the worst thing I ever did... but I did indeed kill Saeko..."

Monokuma jumped down from his chair again. "All rise! The trial has come to an end! Let the voting begin!" The keyboard with everybody's faces appeared before us again.

Once again, I didn't even hesitate as I voted for Hikooki. I assumed everybody else did as well.

Hikooki sighed, crying into his eyes.

"You... have no right to be cryin' right now..." Toko bawled. "My best friend is dead thanks to you! You deserve everythin' comin' to you..."

"I know!" Hikooki cried back. "I don't deserve to live anymore..."

"Just tell me," Daquan began, holding back tears. "Why did you do it?! Why would you kill Saeko?! She never hurt anybody!"

Hikooki sniffled. "I-I... She had my secret... You s-see... Years ago, I had a g-girlfriend. Her name was Naomi, and she was the sweetest, most beautiful, most adventurous girl I ever knew. We met while the two of us were still in pilot's school..." He began.

"And?" Tame asked him.

"I... never knew any of this..." Rai muttered.

"Yeah... 'cause you only wanted to talk about the different clouds," Hikooki replied. "Anyway... Naomi and I were inseparable. We always talked about wanting to see the world together. She was a grade above me, though. And she was the best pilot I have ever seen. Way better than me. One day, she left on a trip, piloted by herself, of course. I encouraged her to go. She didn't return for weeks..."

"What happened after?" Asa asked him.

"..." Hikooki took a deep breath as tears welled up in his eyes. "...Her father... told me that she had died in a plane crash. I can remember her funeral to this day. I couldn't even give a speech because I was crying so much. I still have all of our pictures together, all the notes she wrote me when we talked about the trips we would go on, all the postcards from the places we said we would go..."

"...That is... quite tragic," Kenji muttered.

"...I don't deserve to be called the Ultimate Pilot," Hikooki declared, taking off his hat. "That title rightfully belongs to Naomi,"

Monokuma laughed. "Upupu~! It's true, you know! Saeko's secret read, 'Hikooki Kawata got his girlfriend killed in a plane crash'!"

Hikooki sniffled again. "She told me... She told me that she experienced loss herself, and that I needed to let go of Naomi, because she was able to let go of her loss... And while she had a point, I couldn't take it. That's when I hit her with the spear. She didn't die, and I felt really bad, looking at her trying to walk and talk. After a few hours, later that night, she told me. She told me... That I would never get better if I didn't get over Naomi. Even in her worst pain, she was telling me I needed to move on... I can't move on so easily! I can't! And so... In a truly despicable act... I killed her,"

"Aw, what a sad sob story!" Monokuma replied.

Aiko sniffled. "Oh no, that's so heartbreaking! It's always a terrible tragedy when two hearts are forcefully torn from one another!"

"That's... really harsh..." Masaki replied.

I tried to withhold my tears as well. While it was hard to forgive Hikooki for this, there was something upsetting about it.

"But let's not shift the focus completely from Saeko!" Monokuma exclaimed. "Saeko Nura once forgot to give her bedridden brother his pills, resulting in his death! Who had that one?"

"I... did..." Guadalupe replied.

"Upupu~! Anyway... I've prepared a _special_ execution for the Ultimate Pilot, Hikooki Kawata!"

Nothing could have prepared me for what was next.

 **Execution:**

 _Plane and Simple:_

Hikooki sighed as he suddenly appeared in the cockpit of an airplane. He looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. Suddenly, his seatbelt strapped onto him, locking him in place as he instinctively grabbed hold of the plane's controls. Then, the plane began to rapidly descend out of the sky.

His face looking panicked, Hikooki pulled the controls as hard as he could, bringing the plane level again. He breathed a sigh of relief, until a bullet shot through the plane's cockpit. Hikooki jumped, trying to undo his seatbelt. More bullets riddled the cockpit, each one conveniently missing Hikooki as he scrambled for his seatbelt, which seemed to be jammed.

With a gasp, Hikooki finally pulled the seatbelt off of himself and rolled out of his seat, running for cover as he ran past all the bullets. He dashed out of the cockpit and into the aisles, bullets shredding apart the seats. In the back of the airplane was a framed picture of an unfamiliar, yet quite beautiful woman. Hikooki gasped and grabbed hold of the picture, until a bullet pierced his stomach. He leaned over, dropping the picture and reaching for it as bullets shredded through his body, spilling blood all over the place. The plane began to spiral downward toward the ground.

As the plane descended, we all gasped in horror as we watched the plane fall toward the ocean. The plane crashed into the water as Hikooki reached for the picture, which began to float up toward the surface. Hikooki tried to swim up there as well, but was still bleeding profusely and lacked the strength to move. Hikooki's face went blue as pink blood surrounded him, his eyes rolling up as his body sank to the bottom.

The picture rose to the surface of the water, but was too wet and dirty to be recognizable anymore.

All of us went silent as we witnessed this horrific execution.

 **Post-Trial:**

"Serves that double-crossin' outlaw right," Toko whispered through tears in their eyes. "Saeko! Saeko..."

Daquan hugged them and patted their back as Toko cried out some more.

"Hikooki... He was my... Friend..." Rai muttered.

"In a way... I can't say I'm completely surprised," Hideki stated. "But in reality... I don't think Hkooki's the one to blame for this,"

"What the fuck do you mean?" Daquan asked him.

"It's simple," Hideki replied. "Wasn't Aiko the one who told Saeko to meet up with Hikooki?"

"I believe Miss Amane did say that," Asa replied to him.

"What? I honestly don't remember..." Aiko stated.

Hideki chuckled and crossed his arms. "If anything, Aiko... The blood of Saeko _and_ Hikooki is completely on your hands,"

"Huh?" Aiko scratched her head.

"Aiko..." I began, looking at her. "This wasn't your fault. Don't blame yourself for this. There was no way you could have known." I then turned to Hideki. "If Aiko did this... So did I. I... encouraged Saeko to meet up with him,"

Hideki shrugged and turned away. "Then you're equally guilty, Kanon. In my eyes... You're no better than a murderer,"

I looked down and really began to think about this.

If Saeko hadn't met up with us last night, she and Hikooki would still be alive now.

The elevator took us all back to the train. Just as I was about to enter my own room, Masaki stopped me.

"Hey, Kanon?" He began.

"What is it?" I asked him, trying to hide my tears.

"You... You did nothing wrong, okay? I just... I want you to know that. Please don't blame yourself for the deaths of Saeko and Hikooki, okay? I... Probably would have said the same thing..."

"But... you would have blamed yourself for the same thing!" I wailed. "You... You still feel suicidal all the time... I can't lose you like we lost Lorenzo, Michiru, Saeko, Hikooki..."

Masaki sighed and hugged me again, just like last time. "With you around, Kanon, I have a reason to keep myself alive. Don't worry about me. Please. You've got so much to live for ahead of you,"

He let go of me and went back to his room. My face felt like it was blushing in full, and I wiped my tears on my sleeves as I went back to my room.

I would never forget what I witnessed this day.

CHAPTER 2 END

SURVIVING STUDENTS: 20


	15. Chapter 3: Third Stop

Despite the nightmarish images flashing in my head from the previous night, I was able to fall asleep rather quickly. I chalked it up to just my exhaustion, as all of yesterday was just an emotional rollercoaster of epic proportions. Every time I closed my eyes, I could see Saeko's impaled corpse and Hikooki's drowning body. For a moment, I had forgotten that the two of them were dead. For a moment. We had all said that we wouldn't let something like this happen again, yet here we were anyway. Monokuma sure had this shocking way of forcing us to kill each other, even when we said we wouldn't.

"It is now 7 a.m.!" I heard Monokuma announce over the monitor. I cursed under my breath at Monokuma's smug, sadistic grin as the monitor shut off. Shaking my head, I changed into my clothes and listened to the train as it was going again. Where would we end up this time, I wondered?

Wasting no time, I headed out into the hallway to meet up with everybody else. Even though it seemed more and more pointless by the day, I still clung to that glimmer of hope that we would come together and defeat Monokuma, putting an end to this wretched game. It was a rather far-fetched idea, but somebody had to try it, right?

Right?

With a yawn, I headed toward the dining hall again. I saw Ryo in the hallway, standing by himself for whatever reason. He was looking down with his hands in his pockets, his face reading equal parts anxiety and disappointment.

"Ryo?" I called out, hoping he wasn't too upset.

"Oh, hey Kanon," He called back to me, waving his head. "Uh... so, about the other night," He whispered, looking to the side as his face flushed red.

I looked down and sighed. "Yeah..."

Ryo shook his head. "I think I should explain. I mean the other night, when we shared our secrets... You don't remember mine, do you?" He asked.

"That you're gay?" I asked him. His face reddened as he jumped, twiddling his thumbs after the initial shock.

"..." He took a deep breath and scratched the back of his head. "...Please... You don't think that's bad, right? I... I can't really talk about it around my team. They all like to talk about women and make fun of gay men, they don't suspect a thing about me because I'm so masculine," He whispered. "And like... I guess when Tame exposed my secret, I felt... outed,"

I went silent as well. While I guess my time hanging out with Ryo gave me the hint that he might have been, it wasn't something I might have guessed immediately. Regardless, it wasn't something I would ever hold against him. If anything, there was no reason he should hide it. It was just wrong to pick on somebody for their sexuality.

"...I... think that it's just fine for you to be gay," I replied to him with a smile. "You should follow your heart. Face the reality. Go after your dreams, like you go after the ball during a game," I told him.

Ryo smiled back at me. "Thanks, Kanon... I really appreciate that a lot,"

"Of course!" I replied to him. "And while we're on the subject of revealing sexuality, I'm into just about everyone. Men, women, non-binary and trans people... Isn't there a word for that? Like, pansexual or something?"

Ryo nodded. "Yeah, I'm fairly certain that's what it is. Although I think bisexual people can be into all those too... it just depends on what label resonates with you more, I guess. Sort of like picking out a Jersey size that fits,"

"Okay! Pansexual it is!" I replied to Ryo. "Anyway, our friends are probably waiting for us back in the dining hall. Want to get going?" I asked him.

"Of course," Ryo replied. "You gave me the confidence I needed to face everyone, thank you so much,"

Ryo and I walked together to the dining hall, where everyone else awaited us. Everyone was with their usual groups. Toko and Daquan were sitting together, both looking distraught and upset. Surprisingly, Rai didn't look too upset by comparison, once again running his mouth to Shiro and Aiko. What did catch my eye more than anything was Masaki sitting between Amy-chan and Azizah. Both of them seemed to be talking to him at different intervals, and he would occasionally turn to both of them and smile. Something about this irked me just a bit, though I wasn't quite sure what.

"Oh, Masaki!" I called out, sitting with him, Azizah, and Amy-chan. The two of them went silent as I sat down.

"Good morning, Kanon," Masaki greeted me with a smile. I couldn't help but smile back in his direction as he motioned for me to sit closer.

" _Ohaiyo Gozaimasu_!" Amy-chan greeted me in her typical overly-energetic fashion. "How was your sleep, Kanon-chan?"

I sighed and looked down. "I think I slept too long," I replied, rubbing my eyes. "I'm still exhausted. Yesterday seriously messed with me,"

Amy-chan puffed her cheeks out at me. "Aw! I hope you get better soon, Kanon-chan!"

Azizah put her hand on my shoulder. "It may not always be easy, but we must keep pushing through, no matter how difficult life may get. Even when it seems hopeless," She encouraged me.

"I agree with Azizah," Masaki stated, adjusting his position to sit up. "Anyway, I know that this went _spectacularly_ the last time we tried this out, but why don't we try deciding on who should be our leader this time?" He suggested. "Just try to stay on-topic this time,"

"I still hold to the idea that it should be Miss Amari," Asa suggested. "After all, she carried us all in the last trial with such aplomb, it would be a shame not to elect her as the leader!"

"I have zero objections," Kenji muttered to himself. "In such a desperate situation, I no longer hold to the idea that we are capable of governing ourselves,"

Kaemon rolled his eyes. "Am I the only one here not really on board with this idea?" He asked. "I mean, Kanon's just so emotional and irrational, plus once a month she'll-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there," I replied, glaring right at him. "I'm learning to keep my emotions more in check, thank you very much,"

"Look, it's not because you're a woman, I just-" Before Kaemon could finish his sentence, Yuki raised her fist to him again. He kept quiet after that.

"Anyway... I appreciate the sentiment, but... I still don't know just how cut out for this I am," I replied. "After all, I'm still only learning,"

Azizah patted my back. "It's okay, Kanon. We all must start small at first,"

"Wait a minute," I began. "What about Azizah? She's cool and composed, and she's one of the smartest ones here!"

Masaki nodded back. "Could work. I can see it,"

"Yes, Miss Ali would be perfect!" Asa replied.

"Whoa!" Kaemon butted in again. "No way. I'd rather have _Kanon_ than Azizah!"

Everyone stopped to turn toward Kaemon.

"Really?" Utamuro asked him. "What is it that you so irrationally hate about yourself that you project onto Azizah?"

Kaemon rolled his eyes. "Oh right, I never told you guys Azizah's secret the other night. I think it's for all your benefit to hear about it,"

Azizah gasped. "Kaemon, please, don't-"

"Dude, this is seriously uncalled for!" Tame called out.

Tomoe grinned. "Ah, guess we're getting some real drama here! Playing out just like a movie should,"

Before anyone else could say anything, Kaemon spoke up. "Azizah Ali is a practicing Muslim, and usually doesn't wear her hijab in public because she was attacked for it!"

Azizah instantly went silent, looking down and turning away from all of us. Everyone else fell silent as well, with Kaemon crossing his arms and grinning.

"There, now you all know,"

"Kaemon," began Daquan, glaring at him. "Get the fuck out of here before I kick your ass,"

"Pfft, why? Because you care _so_ much about someone who would have you killed in an instant?" Kaemon asked him.

"That's enough of this!" Azizah cried out, wiping tears from her eyes. "Stop it! I would never kill anyone, it goes _against_ my religion!"

Kaemon scoffed. "Didn't stop all those other guys, you know who I'm talking about-"

Before Kaemon could say anything, Ryo spoke up. "Kaemon Nakama is a virgin,"

Kaemon gasped and went silent, glaring at Ryo. "...Why the fuck would you just throw that in the open?"

Everyone glared at Kaemon as we all left the dining hall, not even getting a chance to finish our meeting. As we left, the train came to a stop as Monokuma appeared on the monitor again.

"Ahem. The Monokuma Express has arrived at its next stop. I recommend changing into your bathing suits for this one!" Monokuma announced before the monitor shut off.

Swimsuits, huh? Were we going to be on a beach for this one? It would be a stark contrast to our last stop.

I went back into my room and looked through my dresser. As expected, I found my old two-piece swimsuit, colored a pale yellow with a white stripe through the middle of both pieces. I quickly changed into my swimsuit, undoing my braids and my ponytail. It felt weird letting my hair hang down straight; I was worried I would look too different. I kept my glasses on as I was simply blind without them.

I walked out to the hallway, seeing that everybody else must have finished changing by now. I walked outside and instantly had to shield my eyes from the blinding sun, though my skin looked ridiculously pale as the sun's rays touched it. I felt the warm sand beneath my bare feet, enjoying the feeling as I looked out on the beach. It was completely empty save for the ocean in the distance, a small snack-shack, some empty lawn chairs and umbrellas, and a shower room/bathroom. It looked like one of those tourist traps, just without the tourists.

"Guess I was the first one out here," I muttered to myself as the second person walked out. It was Sen, clad only in a pair of cyan swimming trunks. He had a fairly slender build, not overly fit but definitely healthy. For some reason, he was still wearing his medical mask.

"Hello, Kanon!" Sen called out to me. "I see you're a quick changer. Is your swimsuit made out of the proper fabrics? If not, it can be damaging to your skin,"

I raised my eyebrow a bit, blushing a little as he made this remark. I imagined it was less awkward for him, being a doctor and all, but it was still weird hearing it from him. "I, uh... think?" I replied. "I've gone swimming once or twice before, and I've been fine each time,"

Sen nodded as the next two arrived - Guadalupe and Yuki. Guadalupe was dressed in a green bikini, and she looked exactly the way I thought she would - astoundingly toned figure and even a set of abs. Yuki was dressed in her regular clothes for some reason, though - and instantly began to sweat the moment she stepped out on the beach.

"Oh shit, it's hot out here!" Yuki called out, fanning herself off.

" _Idiota!_ Monokuma told you to dress in a swimsuit!" Guadalupe scolded her.

"I just-" In a desperate move, Yuki tugged on the hem of her shirt, lifting upward. Instantly Guadalupe's face flushed a beet-red.

"Yuki, no! You're not wearing anything under that!"

Before anything past her stomach was exposed to the world, Yuki let go. "Oh shit, you're right! I, uh... might have a swimsuit, lemme go grab that," She then dashed off and back into the train as Kaemon walked out in a pair of beige swim trunks. Just as I expected, his body was fat and covered in blond hair.

"The fuck? Did she almost show her tits?" Kaemon asked us.

Sen shook his head. "Yuki might be suffering from heat exhaustion, it's probably best that we don't bring this up,"

"If you even think about sexually harassing Yuki, I will kick your ass!" Guadalupe threatened him.

"Geez, no need to get all pissy about it," Kaemon replied, crossing his arms.

Guadalupe scowled at him and sighed. "You're ''muy estúpido''," She told him.

"Hey, I don't even speak Spanish, and I know what that meant!" Kaemon shouted at Guadalupe, before Kenji walked out in an athletic men's swimsuit. Strangely enough, he was still wearing his mask over his face, and his sword and sheath were still on his waist. Just as before, I was standing in awe over his toned and muscular physique.

"Do you just take your sword and mask with you everywhere you go?" Kaemon asked him.

Kenji nodded. "A good swordsman doesn't leave his blade behind for anybody,"

"Ooooooh, you're so fit and athletic!" Guadalupe exclaimed. "You must work out every day!"

"Yes, I do," Kenji replied with a nod. "It is my personal code to always be of strong body and of stronger mind. Speaking of which, Tame was supposed to join me, but I'm not quite sure where she went..."

"A little help?" Tame called out, poking her head out from the train's door. Kenji walked back to the train as her face flushed a beet-red. "F-From a girl?"

"I've got it!" I replied, running back up to the train. Tame was standing by the door, in a purple bikini. It was one of those that had to be tied to be worn, and the top had to be tied at the front. The top was stretching itself to fit over her chest, and Tame didn't have a solid grip on the laces. Her face was flushed a beet-red as she struggled to keep her top up. "Do you need help tying this?"

Tame gave a nervous nod as I helped tie the laces behind her back. "H-Hey, that's really tight!" She called back to me, wincing in pain. "I feel like it's gonna fall off!" I tried tying it a little bit more loose, eventually getting a good angle as I tied her top on. "Hey, thanks, Kanon!" She told me. "Truth be told, I'm actually super self-conscious," Tame admitted to me, looking down and covering her chest with her arms. "I-I know I'm going to get lots of stares, and... I don't know if I can handle that..."

I nodded back at Tame and smiled back at her, making sure I wasn't staring myself. "I understand. Just sit in the shade and away from everybody else, or tell people not to stare. If they do, then we'll all know that those guys are trash anyway. Don't worry, I won't let anyone make you feel uncomfortable!" I told her. This was quite the surreal feeling, reassuring my idol, the artist of my favorite anime.

Tame smiled back, but then suddenly reclined as Daquan and Ryo entered the hallway, in their swim trunks. Daquan was wearing blueish-gray trunks while Ryo's were a dull red, and both were just as beefy and toned as I was expecting them to be.

"Hey, girls!" Daquan greeted us. "Y'all goin' swimming with us?"

Tame gave a faint nod in Daquan's direction.

"No need to be shy," Ryo told her. "Remember? I'm not into girls,"

Tame gulped, still trying to hide her chest. Meanwhile, I was caught up with Daquan and Ryo's figures, they were quite impressive.

The four of us went back outside, and Tame immediately dashed underneath the shade of an umbrella, sitting next to Kenji.

"Holy shit-" Kaemon muttered. "Tame's... well, you know... even _bigger_ than I imagined-"

"I would advise that you shut your mouth at once," Kenji replied to him. "It would be within your best interest,"

The next ones to arrive out were Utamuro and Amy-chan. Utamuro was dressed in white swim trunks with a black diagonal stripe through the middle, and Amy-chan was in a pink bikini with blue frills that sparkled in the sunlight. It was strange seeing Amy-chan with her hair all the way down, reaching down to her waist. Seeing Utamuro standing side-by-side with Amy-chan really accentuated their height difference; I never really processed just how much she towered over him. Utamuro was predictably thin and underweight, no real fat or muscle to discern on his body. Amy-chan wasn't particularly toned or fit, but what was impressive about her was her sheer height.

"Oh, _sugoi_! I can't wait to have fun on the beach!" Amy-chan exclaimed, hugging Utamuro tightly.

"H-Hey, you can let go of me, you know!" Utamuro protested, trying to wriggle out of her grasp.

After a few seconds, Amy-chan let go of the Ultimate Clothing designer. "Hehe, _gomen_!"

I kept eyeing up Amy-chan, having to tilt my head up just to look at her. Man, I just wished she was less loud, then I'd definitely be into her.

"I'm probably just gonna sit in the shade," Utamuro whispered, sitting under one of the umbrellas. Amy-chan took a seat next to him as Tomoe was the next was step out, dressed in a gray recreational one-piece, not showing off too much of her body. Her sunglasses were resting atop her head, showing her gold-brown eyes that she never showed us before. Just like the rest of the girls, she was actually wearing her hair down this time.

"How's it going, everyone?" Tomoe asked, strutting toward Utamuro and Amy-chan. "Damn, this would be a nice place to shoot for a movie," She muttered as she took a seat and pulled her sunglasses over her face again.

"You're just gonna wear that old thing?" Utamuro asked her. "That's the kind of thing they would have us wearing back in school. Surely Cool Tomoe should wear something, I dunno, cooler?"

Tomoe shrugged and grabbed a glass of lemonade conveniently placed on a table next to her. "Look, I don't show off. I dunno if I'm ready to wear something flashy like Amy-chan here,"

Utamuro nodded. "I understand. Well, if you ever change your mind, there's tons of different types of swimsuits I can make for you, to fit your body shape,"

Amy-chan sat by Utamuro and Tomoe, the three of them talking among themselves. I smiled, watching the three of them enjoy the day. It was quite refreshing to see us having fun, even if just the day prior we witnessed two deaths.

Rai, Shiro, Yuki, and Aiko were the next to arrive on the beach. Rai was wearing a pair of baggy blue swim trunks with a cloud pattern on them, and for once wasn't wearing his glasses. He had a fairly average build, his stomach being on the pudgy side and his chest on the skinny side. Shiro was wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of light-gray swim trunks, not wearing their signature goggles this time. In its place as a seafoam-colored visor on their forehead, shielding their red eyes from the sun. Yuki was wearing a black bikini, and I couldn't help but gasp as I realized just how much she was hiding under her sweatshirt and sweatpants. She was rather fit, but not particularly toned or muscular above the waist. Her legs were significantly more toned and finely shaped, and she was fairly busty though not on the level of Tame. Aiko was dressed significantly more modestly than the others, in a black one-piece only exposing her shoulders, arms, and legs.

"Yuki!" Guadalupe called out, running up to her. " _Hermosa!_ You look great in that!"

Yuki smiled back at her. "Hey, thanks! It's still kinda warm out here, but I do like to swim!"

"Huh, it's definitely going to be sunny for a long time..." Rai muttered to himself as he sat down on the sand. Shiro sat next to him, pulling the visor over their face and sitting beneath an umbrella.

"I'm still trying to develop a sunscreen that both shields the epidermis from UV light while also allowing optimal Vitamin D absorption," Shiro muttered. "It's difficult with my skin having no pigment, though,"

Yuki gave a chuckle. "Shiro, you're such a nerd!"

Shiro rolled their eyes in response and gave a sigh. "Yes, and you can thank nerds like me for every breakthrough in modern chemistry,"

Meanwhile, Aiko picked up a branch on the ground and began to draw a circle around Rai, Shiro, Guadalupe, Yuki, and I. Yuki and Guadalupe stepped outside of the circle as Aiko began to draw some straight lines through the circle as well as some strange symbols in the middle of the circle. When she finished, it resembled one of those magic circles seen in occult rituals.

"What's this?" Rai asked. "Are we going to sit here and chant more weird Latin phrases again?"

Shiro sighed. "No, this is a magic circle, as seen in alchemy. But alchemy is ridiculously outdated, no one actually believes it anymore. And if it weren't for anime, I don't think anyone would even care about alchemy in the first place,"

Aiko giggled at Shiro's comment. "Hehehe~ It's not an alchemy circle! It's for contacting the dark one, so that she may save us from this murder game!"

"Will this actually work?" Shiro asked.

"Probably not," I whispered into their ear. "I don't think it's any question that Aiko isn't... all there, so to say,"

Shiro shrugged. "She's weird, but I don't think there's anything too wrong with her,"

Aiko placed a few candles around the circle as she sat down with her legs crossed as she began to chant something indistinct.

"Why do you like her so much?" Shiro asked Rai. Rai shrugged in response.

"I'm not entirely sure, she's just cute, I guess," He replied. "Plus, she actually listens to me about the weather. Everyone else just kinda ignores me,"

Shiro nodded, staying in place and keeping a close watch on Aiko and Rai.

"Prepare yerselves, I'm comin' out, y'all!" A familiar voice shouted out. Toko burst out from the train, dressed in a pale lavender bikini, with their hair down and glasses off. They still wore their trademark lavender cowboy hat, and without their skirt and leggings on, one could see an automatic machine gun and a pistol strapped to their legs. Most of us stopped to look at them, surprised at their boldness.

"Is it... weird?" Tame asked them. "Being non-binary and wearing a bikini? I'd imagine you would be, I don't know..."

Toko sneered at Tame. "Where in the rules does it say that enbies can't wear bikinis?"

Tame sighed. "Damn... they're more confident than I am..."

"Is it uncomfortable? Wearing your guns around your legs?" Kenji asked.

Toko grinned at Kenji. "And yer one to talk, still carryin' yer sword with ya?"

Kenji shrugged and instantly went silent.

In the midst of Toko and Kenji's conversation, I felt someone tap on my shoulder. I gasped and turned around, seeing Hideki in deep blue swim trunks. He was lacking his signature hat, but still had his sunglasses on. Surprisingly, he wasn't super muscular, and was quite chubby, especially around the stomach.

"Oh, hello Kanon," Hideki greeted me, giving a smug grin in my direction and crossing his arms. "Don't think you're safe now, because Monokuma's still gonna try to make us kill each other,"

I sighed and puffed my cheeks out at Hideki. "Why can't you just let us have some fun for once?"

Hideki shrugged. "Monokuma doesn't take a day off, why should we?"

I didn't want to admit it, but Hideki was right. Anyone could kill anyone else at this point, and ignoring that possibility didn't make it go away.

"Also, that's quite the daring outfit you've got there," Hideki told me, looking me up and down. "You sure that's the right size? You don't really fill out the top too well,"

I instantly went beet-red, hoping nobody heard him. I covered my chest instantly, hoping no one was looking in my direction. At that moment, I looked over at all the other girls - Guadalupe, Tame, Amy-chan, Yuki, Aiko, Tomoe, they all had much different figures than I did. I didn't want to admit it, but every passing second was making me feel more and more self-conscious.

"C-Can you not say such things?" I asked Hideki.

Kaemon walked over to us and poked my stomach without any real warning. I flinched and backed away from him.

"Yeah, you have basically a loli build," Kaemon noted. "But don't worry too much about it, at least the Flat is Justice crowd would like you a lot!"

"Okay, you two, that's quite enough," I heard a familiar voice call out. Masaki walked out, dressed in a pair of gray-blue swim trunks. I gasped, staring at him up and down as I noted his incredible build. He was fit and athletic, but not overly muscular like Daquan and Ryo. I had to cover my mouth and not make it so obvious that I was staring at him.

"What, you gonna white knight her?" Kaemon asked with a laugh.

Masaki shrugged. "I dunno, I just don't think people like you should be quick to make such demeaning comments about others' figures,"

Kaemon glared at Masaki, going completely silent as the Ultimate Thief approached Hideki.

"Yeah? And what do you want with me, mister criminal?" Hideki asked him.

Masaki gave a grin. "And you? You're clearly much bigger and stronger than little Kanon here. Pick on somebody your own size,"

Hideki rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Okay, whatever you say," He then walked away before leaning toward my face and whispering something. "Just because he's sweet to you doesn't mean he cares about you at all. That man is nothing but trouble," Before I could say anything else to him, Hideki walked off.

I looked down and puffed my cheeks out again, upset with Kaemon and Hideki. Suddenly, I felt seriously uncomfortable around everyone, sort of like I'd been mentally violated. I wanted to shrink down and disappear from everyone else, and hide my shame from the others surrounding me. I covered my face with my hands, looking away from everybody else.

"Hey, Kanon?" Masaki began. I pulled my head from my hands and looked up at him as I was still shaking.

"Wh-what is it now?" I asked him.

He inhaled and looked up, then looked back at me with a smile. "You, uh... look nice in that,"

I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine as he said those words aloud. I felt a goofy, awkward smile spread across my face as I tugged on my hair a bit, suddenly feeling some combination of elation and nervousness. "Th-thanks..." I replied to him. "Y-You, uh... look really, uh... um..." The word I was looking for was very clearly "hot", but how could I say that?! He would definitely get ideas if I told him that. "You look... nice, as well,"

Masaki smiled back at me, moving his arms up and giving me a good look at his figure. I had to cover my mouth to hide my gasp as I looked him up and down. Good lord, he was hot! "Thanks," He replied. "I appreciate that,"

"Hello everyone, sorry I'm late!" Asa called out, clad in a beige bikini. She wore a large smile upon her face as she approached us, looking rather excited and confident. She was just so cute, being happy and cheery as well as her adorably plump self.

"Asa-chan!" Amy-chan called out, instantly running toward Asa. Kaemon, Tame, Yuki, Guadalupe, Sen, Daquan, Ryo, Masaki and I approached her as well.

"Oh my!" Asa called out with a smile. "I never expected to be this popular!"

"You're so _kawaii_ , Asa-chan!" Amy-chan squealed. "Did you make anything?"

Yuki smiled at her as well. "Yeah, is there anything baking right now?"

"Oh, of course! You know there always is when I have the chance!" Asa replied to the two of them. "But Miss Sakura, Miss Hatano, you two must be patient. It is going to be a while before it's all finished, okay?"

Kaemon nodded back. "Man, I can't wait to dig into some of that sweet cake! There's just nothing like eating sweets and playing video games!"

Asa bowed toward Kaemon. "I am glad to hear that I may be of service to you, Mister Nakama,"

Suddenly I heard Tame shout, "Shut up!"

"Miss Maeda, what's wrong?" Asa asked her.

"This dickhead just said, 'Guess you're going to have to settle for second-biggest tits here!'" Tame replied, pointing at Kaemon.

"H-Hey, it's nothing personal!" Kaemon replied to her. "It's nothing but an observation!"

Ryo shook his head at Kaemon. "It's kind of weird to say things like that. You wouldn't go telling the same thing to myself or Daquan, would you?"

Asa gave a nervous chuckle as her face went red. "M-Mister Shinobu, please, it's... quite alright," Asa stammered. "I-I don't particularly mind offhand remarks about my, um... figure. I used to receive them quite frequently..."

Man, comparing my reaction to Kaemon's sexist comments and Asa's reaction, there was a noticeable difference. She had a lot more composure than I did, for sure. It was quite a wonder how Asa always managed to keep herself calm and collected.

"Moving on, it seems everybody is here except for Miss Ali," Asa pointed out. "Where could she be right now?"

I gasped, suddenly remembering our encounter with Azizah in the dining hall, and how Kaemon outed her in front of all of us. It was possible that she was feeling insecure around all of us thanks to him...

Just as Asa mentioned that, we saw Azizah slowly creeping out of the train. She was dressed in a dark yellow full-body wetsuit, with black stripes down the middle. Just like the others who wore glasses, she had them off this time. "H-Hello, everyone," Azizah greeted us all, approaching us but making sure not to look at Kaemon.

"Hey, Azizah!" Masaki called out to her with a wave. "Aren't you hot in that thing?"

Azizah shook her head. "It is not quite as hot as you might think," She replied with a nervous smile. "See, I am told to dress modestly, and so I do,"

Kaemon rolled his eyes. "Please, we all know it's because you're so oppresse-"

"No, that is not how it is either," Azizah replied to him. "It is just tradition. Personally, I feel more comfortable wearing this to begin with,"

"Yeah, that's _exactly_ what you would say," Kaemon scoffed.

"Okay, you can stop being a dick now," Daquan told him.

"Would it be less of an issue if she were a Japanese woman who did not practice religion, wearing a wetsuit?" Kenji asked. "It appears as if this is just your bias showing,"

Before Kaemon could defend himself further, Monokuma suddenly appeared before each of us. This time, however, he was wearing palm tree-shaped sunglasses and a floral-patterned shirt. "Hello, class! I see you all made it to the beach in your swimwear today! Because you've all been so patient and cooperative, I'm going to allow everybody a fun beach day today! Play in the water, talk with your friends, soak in the sun! And most importantly, don't forget to have fun!" Monokuma told all of us as he grabbed a surfboard and jumped into the water.

It was a little strange, with Monokuma telling us to simply enjoy ourselves after witnessing a murder and an execution, but we certainly needed something to get our minds off of all this.

Everyone dispersed into their groups, but Masaki and Azizah stayed with me. Azizah kept looking down, being more quiet than usual.

"Azizah? You've been awfully quiet all day," Masaki told her.

"It's okay," Azizah replied to him with a smile. "You do not need to concern yourself with me, but I very much appreciate it,"

"Kaemon's just rude," I told her. "Don't listen to him, he's wrong about you,"

Azizah nodded and smiled back at me. "You are all getting so angry at him, but his heart is simply corrupted. With patience, he can be transformed into a kinder, more peaceful person,"

Masaki chuckled at Azizah. "You're too wide-eyed. I think Kaemon is just too far gone for any of us to reach at this point,"

"You all say that," She began. "But perhaps he has been misled. There is room for wisdom and instruction in him,"

What was Azizah planning? There was no way anyone could put up with Kaemon for so long. She definitely had some inhuman sense of patience if she was going to try to reach him.

"Well, in any case," Masaki began, "Isn't it weird that Monokuma would basically tell us to have fun right after a murder? I don't trust anything he says for a second,"

"Yes, it is strange," Azizah replied. "Usually he gives us a motive, so we should expect that soon,"

Masaki and Azizah had a point. It was weird that Monokuma was being so lax with us; he wasn't usually this way. I wasn't about to complain about some relief from the mutual killing.

After a few hours of all of us having fun on the beach, splashing each other with water and soaking in the sun, suddenly we heard a voice call out to us.

"Everyone, come my way," Kenji called out to us.

"Did you find anything of importance, Mister Yang?" Asa asked him with a tilt of her head.

Kenji nodded, crossing his arms. "There is something I wish for you all to see. I do hope that it is nothing terrible,"

Sen scratched his chin and looked around, then nodded. "It appears that we are all present, so we do not have to fear the possibility of one of us having been murdered just yet,"

"Kenji, could you at least tell us what it is?" Azizah asked him.

Kenji shook his head. "I... am not certain how I would describe it to you all. Please, the best way to learn of it is to follow me," He told us as he motioned for us to follow him. Each of us followed Kenji out of the water as he led us into the shack on the beach.

"The snack shack?" Tame asked him. "I mean, I do get hungry, but was it worth pulling us all away from the beach for?"

"Yeah, tell us what the hell is goin' on," Hideki said to him.

"Hmph," Kenji grunted, before opening up the door. The interior didn't seem to be too out of the ordinary, with various snacks and junk foods lining the shelves. There was one thing off about it, though - a strange crystal ball sitting on the counter, completely out of place. Thematically, it didn't match where we were at, and it didn't seem to have any real purpose.

"A fucking crystal ball?" Kaemon asked. "Some pseudoscience magic bullshit?"

"Don't be so quick to disregard it!" Aiko called back. "Crystal balls have historically had power to see what human beings cannot see! Before talented scientists like Rai existed, people would go to the crystal ball to see if it was going to rain on a certain day!"

"Well, um..." Rai wanted to say something, but his face went red and he kept stammering over his words. "Well, it's less about- and more- well-"

Shiro shook their head. "No, I think Kenji knows what he's talking about. A crystal ball doesn't particularly match a beach theme,"

"Not unless Monokuma was goin' for a haunted beach movie!" Tomoe replied with a grin. "'Course, it would probably suck, but maybe worth having a laugh over with your friends,"

Aiko grinned and reached out toward the crystal ball. "Shhh, I'm going to see if I can channel the energy from this crystal ball-"

Before Aiko could place her hand on the glass ball, Monokuma burst into the shack. "Why, hello students! I see you've found the rare, the elusive, the well sought-after Orb of Desire!"

The Orb of Desire?

...There was no way this could turn out well.


	16. Chapter 3: Motive

"Orb of Desire?" I asked, eyeing the crystal ball. It didn't seem to be anything peculiar, and there weren't any scratches or marks that could be decrypted as any sort of subliminal message. Touching it didn't bring about any adverse effects either. Just what was Monokuma planning this time?

Ryo gave a curious tap on the glass ball and scratched his chin. "I don't get it. What's supposed to happen?"

"It's just what it says on the tin!" Monokuma replied with a haughty laugh. "It's an orb of desire! Whatever it is you want, it can grant you!"

Whatever it was I wanted? What if I wanted to end world hunger, stop the wars, end this killing game, grab the attention of a love interest? Would it grant it to me?

"So, if I wanted to be left alone and play video games forever, this glass ball could give me that? I don't believe you," Kaemon replied with an eye-roll.

"Yes!" Monokuma emphatically replied.

"What if I wanted to come to peace with life and its fluctuating tendencies?" Kenji asked.

"Yep! Like I said, _anything_!"

Rai scratched his chin. "Could it end climate change?"

"If that's what you wanted!" Monokuma replied, his voice sounding a bit irritated.

Amy-chan giggled. "Okay... what if I wanted to be surrounded by millions of adoring, squealing fans, all dressed in cosplay, and one day become the biggest, richest, most _kawaii_ star in the whole world?"

Monokuma gave an exasperated sigh. "Yes! If you can imagine it, and you really wanted it, the Orb of Desire could grant it! Anything you wanted! There are literally no limits!"

Hideki shook his head. "I don't believe you. There's no way _anything_ has the power to do such a thing. It creates too many problems. It could be misused in a way not even _you_ could deal with the consequences of,"

"Shut it, Paul Blart!" Monokuma shouted back at Hideki, who backed up a bit. "You have no idea what sort of things I am capable of!" Everyone went silent as Monokuma's red eye glowed brighter, baring his fangs and claws. In a few seconds, Monokuma put away his claws and put his head down. "Anyway... you all have fun with the Orb of Desire!" Before anyone could say anything else, he dashed out of the shack in a flash.

"Bastard-" Hideki growled, raising a fist. He sighed and then turned back to the Orb of Desire and picked it up in his hands. "Just what sort of things is this capable of...?" He whispered to himself.

"Oooooh, Hideki is going to lead us in the ritual~!" Aiko cooed, flashing a devious grin. "What sort of things will you wish for?"

"Something easy, with no real consequences," Hideki replied. "If this thing really does have the power to do anything, it's best we don't misuse that power,"

Asa tilted her head at the Ultimate Interrogator. "Mister Harada, please don't get reckless now,"

Hideki tapped on the ball a couple of times. "Let's see here. I want... a chocolate donut and some black coffee,"

"Man, that's an easy one," Daquan replied. "You could easily get that in the train, you know,"

"I know _that_ ," Hideki told him. "What I'm talking about is the way Monokuma worded it. He said that this orb has the power to grant you whatever you wanted. Meaning that the donut and coffee should come to _me_ -" Before Hideki could finish his sentence, he leaned forward and set the orb down. "Wait just a minute-" He looked over at a shelf behind us, staring intently at it. Each of us turned around to see a paper cup of coffee and a chocolate donut on the shelf.

"Wh-what?!" Yuki shouted out, her eyes dilating and her jaw dropping. "No way! This has to be a coincidence! It has to be!" She then put her hand on the orb as Hideki grabbed the donut and coffee off the shelf. "Okay... I want to feel cooler, it's too hot out here,"

"Hey, who said _you_ got the next turn?!" shouted Kaemon, shoving Yuki aside to touch the orb. "I want Tame to give me a strip show,"

Tame instantly went red, and then she shoved Kaemon aside. "I want Kaemon to shut up. Forever,"

"Hey now, you know I can't do that," Kaemon replied. "Besides, I was joking. Nobody wants that anyway, that's stupid,"

Tame scowled at him and crossed her arms. "Right..."

In that moment, I realized just how much this orb was bringing out the worst in us, making us fight with each other, and only one of us had gotten a wish granted. It hadn't been any longer than five or six minutes, and already everybody was at each others' throats for a chance to get something they wanted.

Hell, for a split second even I wanted to get my hands on the mysterious crystal ball and see if I could fulfill my desires-

No, I couldn't.

"Everyone, break it up," Masaki intervened, pushing himself in the middle of everybody. "It's clear this thing is dangerous," He told us all, picking up the orb and walking away.

"Wait a goddamn minute!" Hideki interjected, standing in the doorway in front of Masaki. "Where do you think _you're_ going?! How can we trust you won't just store it away in your room?"

Masaki shrugged and gave a sigh. "Fine then, if you want to follow me and make sure I don't wish for anything or hide it away, you can do that,"

Hideki grinned. "Fine then, let's go,"

Hideki and Masaki walked out of the shack, both of them holding onto the orb as they exited. Where would they put it, I wondered?

"Aw man, and I was going to wish for more sewing supplies," Utamuro lamented.

"You should have wished to be taller~" Aiko teased him, patting his head.

"And _you_ should have wished for a personality," Utamuro replied with a half-smirk.

"You're doing it again!" I called out to them. "Come on, there's a reason they took the orb from us. Monokuma had something devious in mind for this one, and if anything, all we're demonstrating is that it's _working_!"

Shiro nodded. "Kanon is correct. Please, let's just forget about the Orb of Desire, okay?"

"Wait a minute!" Guadalupe called out. "How do we know Masaki and Hideki didn't hide it in one of their rooms or something?"

"Please, I believe we should hold more faith in Mister Domoto and Mister Harada," Asa replied.

"Masaki's a guy I trust alright, he's a cool dude," Daquan told her. "But that Hideki guy, he seems real off to me,"

I remembered when we were at the last stop, my eyes widening as I recalled Hideki's smug face as he waved my secret in front of me. Daquan had a point - never at any time did I actually feel safe or easy around Hideki.

"Yes, I must concur that Hideki makes me feel... on-edge," Kenji added on. "But I have nothing but faith in Masaki. It seems unlikely to me that anything worrisome will occur,"

Just as Kenji finished his sentence, Masaki and Hideki burst in through the door. Neither one of them were holding the Orb of Desire.

"Where did you put the Orb?" asked Amy-chan. "I still need to become the most _kawaii_ idol in the world!"

Hideki shook his head and crossed his arms. "It's too dangerous. You saw what happened back there. Masaki and I are the only ones who know where it is, and we're not telling anybody else,"

Azizah nodded in return. "That's good. It is too unpredictable to let something like this take over ourselves. If we have a chance to fight back against Monokuma's motive, then it is important that we do so,"

"I think we're all ignoring something I thought would be incredibly obvious," Shiro began. "If that Orb is just as powerful as Monokuma says it is, it's possible one of us could use it to end the Killing Game,"

"That's some mighty fine thinkin' there, Shiro," Toko replied to them.

"But how do we know you would use the orb to wish for that?" Guadalupe asked.

Shiro shook their head. "I don't have anything else I could hope to wish for,"

They had a point. I was sure there was not a single one of us who just wanted to go home. I knew that Shiro was onto something big here when they said that. Perhaps I could give it a try?

Then I began thinking. If I was going to end the game anyway, I might as well get something else out of it. Perhaps a strong career as a photojournalist, or all the best cameras in the world. Or maybe even some attention from a certain thief?

 _Kanon, no, stop,_ I caught myself thinking. No, I realized that I was playing into exactly what I was saying earlier. The Orb was bringing out my own selfish desires, just as much as it had with the others.

"That's a nice little sentiment there," Hideki replied. "But why would Monokuma so readily give us something we could use to escape the Killing Game with? It seems like there would be a catch to it,"

Shiro nodded and scratched their chin. "Hmm, you're probably right. Think it would be worth a try, at least?"

"But that's no fun!" Aiko blurted out. "Think about it from Monokuma's perspective. Why would he introduce something like this to us if he didn't plan to make us kill each other with it? If it was so easy to just wish ourselves out of the Killing Game, he wouldn't give it to us. Doesn't that make sense?"

Rai nodded along. "Yeah! Aiko's right. There's no way Monokuma would give us something that would be his undoing,"

"Unless..." Sen began with a mutter. "You _can_ wish for something like that. As a doctor, I've noticed that there is no miracle cure. Surgeries scar, medicines cause side effects, treatments don't always work. Nothing happens without something being lost along the way. Take Hideki's wish for that coffee. He still had to go out of his way to get it,"

"Ah-!" Cried out a distinct, high-pitched voice. I jumped as the cry echoed throughout the shack. We all turned to see Yuki standing in the corner, soaked in water and standing dead still. Several ice cubes lined the floor next to her body as her arms lay stiff at her sides. "Whoa, that's cold!" Yuki exclaimed as a grin spread across her face.

Wait a minute, didn't Yuki wish to be cooled off?

"Hold on," began Kaemon. "Yuki wished to cool down just a second ago, does that mean-" Kaemon then looked over at Tame and gave a wide grin.

"Kaemon..." Tame began. "I swear, if you-"

"Ha, don't worry, I wouldn't actually do anything like-" Kaemon then stumbled in Tame's direction and accidentally swiped at the string on her top. As he fell face-first onto the ground, the strings came undone as she pressed her top against her chest in a reflex. Her face went red as she fumbled to tie her top again.

"K-Kaem-" Tame's lips trembled as she struggled to formulate a proper sentence.

"Miss Maeda, dear, let me help you," Asa then began to tie Tame's top for her as Kaemon stood back up.

"Okay, let me just say," Kaemon began. "That was _totally_ accidental. Completely. I promise-

"Shut up!" Tame shouted at him as she delivered a quick karate-chop to Kaemon's throat. He let out a harsh gasp as his voice went hoarse immediately.

Wait... Kaemon's wish was for Tame to do a strip show for him, and Tame's was to shut up Kaemon. This was starting to get eerie now that Hideki's, Kaemon's, Yuki's, and Tame's wishes had all come true.

"That's it!" Kenji lashed out, drawing his sword and pointing it toward Kaemon's throat. "We simply cannot allow ourselves to go near the Orb any longer! Its power is too dangerous for any of us,"

Hideki gave a chuckle. "Kenji, I'd advise you to be less quick to draw your weapon. We already put the Orb away, remember? We should all be fine,"

Kenji lowered his sword and sheathed it again, then gave a nod. "Right... I apologize, Kaemon, it was impulsive of me to draw a weapon so recklessly,"

Kaemon rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Yeah, right-" He coughed as his voice went hoarse, unable to add anything else to that.

"I would advise you to shut your mouth right then and there. A voice gives away much more than you may need," Kenji replied to him, turning away.

Amy-chan gave a yawn. "Aaaaahhhhh... I'm so _tsukareta_ ," she whined as she stretched her arms out. "Being a _kawaii_ idol is exhausting..." She yawned as she pulled her mask up, rubbing her eye.

"I bet!" Ryo replied with a chuckle. "Gotta meet the demands of the fans, or something like that,"

I looked down at my E-Handbook. It was approaching nighttime, and soon enough it would be just about time for us to go to bed. Right now all we could do was hope that nobody would find the Orb of Desire, as only Masaki and Hideki knew of its whereabouts. That said, there was no way it could realistically be too much of an issue, right?

"Hmmm, Amy-chan is correct," Sen muttered. "It's getting rather late. It would be optimal for us to get some rest right about now,"

"Good idea!" Asa replied. "I'm sure this situation will clear itself up in due time, Mister Ikehara,"

Daquan nodded. "Sen's right. Why don't we just go back onto the train, and we'll discuss what we'll do in the morning?"

"Wait a minute," Hideki began. "We need to make sure nobody goes near the Orb of Desire. So for now, nobody will be allowed to go out at night without a buddy,"

"That's right," Masaki added on. "And we're going to make absolute certain nobody finds the Orb,"

"You're not going to be like... watching us, are you?" Tame asked.

Hideki shook his head. "Don't think of it like that. It's more like... security,"

"So, watching us, got it," Utamuro replied to him.

"It's for your safety!" Hideki protested, raising a fist. "Look, it's too dangerous to let anyone get near that Orb. If we don't keep tabs on everybody, someone could get seriously hurt doing this,"

My hands began to shake a bit listening to Hideki's words. He had a point - this was a situation which called for high security and monitoring of behavior. At the same time, the thought of constantly being watched over, by _Hideki_ , no less, was a chilling thought. Just thinking about him seeing my every move, his smug and dauntless face at every turn, it was enough to send shivers down my spine. I _really_ didn't need him seeing the things I would do. And if he somehow saw me in my bedroom?

I didn't even want to think about it. He already knew I wasn't this pure, untouched girl others thought I was. At least, I _thought_ people thought I was.

As we all boarded back onto the train, I took the chance to walk side-by-side with Masaki. I gave him a quick nudge, staying closer to him than the others.

"What is it?" Masaki whispered, leaning his head down toward me.

"Are you okay with this?" I whispered back to him.

Masaki shrugged and gave a smile. "I don't mind you walking so close to me - I kinda like it,"

I felt my heart jump a little as he finished that sentence. I tried to hide the idiotic smile I was giving by turning away, though he could probably see just how flushed my face was. However, that wasn't what I meant to ask.

"I-I didn't mean-" I tried to begin as we all walked toward our rooms. Everyone else went into their rooms for the night, but I stopped Masaki before either of us could go to bed for the night. "What I meant to ask was- well- um-" I motioned for him to lean in closer as I whispered into his ear. "Are you okay with Hideki keeping tabs on us?"

Masaki took a long breath and sighed. "I... honestly don't know," He whispered back. "I want to think he has good intentions, but I can't know for sure what he wants. I can't stand that guy. At the same time, he has a point. Who knows what could happen if anyone manages to get their hands on the Orb?"

Just as Masaki finished his sentence, Hideki suddenly butted in. "Hey!" He interjected, pulling out his baton and flicking it between us. "You two are supposed to be in bed right now,"

I gasped a bit at Hideki's presence, stepping back and instantly reclining back toward my door. At the time, I didn't even consider his odd phrasing of "You two should be in bed right now".

Masaki, on the other hand, wasn't nearly as put off. He stood in place and shrugged, turning toward his room with a cool demeanor. "Yeah, alright," He replied. He then leaned closer to me again as Hideki walked back toward his room. "Just try and sleep, okay? Don't think about it too much. I promise I won't let Hideki bully you, okay?"

I gave a dumb, crooked grin at Masaki's statement. I wanted to look cute, but there was no way _that_ was happening. For some reason, though, he flashed me his photogenic, calming smile back. "Th-thanks," I sputtered out, trying to cover my face with my hands again.

"Good night, Kanon," Masaki said to me as he went back into his room. I figured I should do the same and headed back into my room as I changed out of my swimsuit and into my pajamas. I sat down on my bed and looked up at the ceiling, feeling tingly all over for whatever reason. I would go between bouts of shaking and sweating at the thought of Hideki watching me and that warm, snuggly feeling in my chest remembering what Masaki said to me.

Maybe once we got out of here, I would tell Masaki how I felt.

All I could hope was that he would reciprocate. There was no way to tell if he would, and it wasn't guaranteed. After all, there wasn't a whole lot special about me. He could easily find a better girl than myself if he wanted. There wasn't any way for me to so reliably gain his feelings just through wishing.

...

...

...

...

...

...

Or was there?


	17. Chapter 3: Free Time Events

I fell asleep almost too exhausted to stand or keep my eyes open, but somehow my sleep was restless in spite of that. I kept seeing Monokuma's malicious, nightmarish face flashing in front of me, shrouded in a black mist as his red eye glowed with a demonic crimson. His demented grin would forever be embedded into my nightmares, along with the images of our four dead classmates' corpses.

It was beginning to take a toll on my mental and physical health. I would wake up every morning feeling lethargic and exhausted, like my eyes and limbs were heavy and being dragged down every second. The thought of the Orb of Desire wasn't helping matters much either. At first it was just something that I would remember existed, something along the lines of "Oh yeah that existed". But the longer I allowed my mind to dwell on it, the more I became enthralled with the Orb of Desire.

No, _obsessed_ with it.

Suddenly the possibilities of the orb began to circulate through my mind. I could theoretically use it to do just about _anything_ I wanted. Anything from making Masaki develop feelings for me, to escaping this game, to even worldwide fame as a photojournalist. I could use it to be taller, to develop the strength needed to finally tell off Hideki and Kaemon. I could use it to be impossible for Monokuma to execute if I were to attack him.

I could use it to save everybody here, Masaki included.

Then, I began thinking about just what I had been saying last night. When we were all fighting over the Orb, how it was meant to divide us from the beginning. While it could theoretically give us anything we wanted, it was done in the pursuit of making us obsessed to the point where we would literally _kill_ for it. That was Monokuma's plan all along, and if I were to develop that same obsession, I would be falling right into his trap with the others.

That, I was not willing to do, not one bit.

I awakened the next morning and changed into my regular clothes, giving a big yawn as I checked the time. 6:56 am. _Damn Monokuma_ , I thought to myself. _Even manipulated my own sleep schedule, that bastard…_

Four minutes quickly zipped by, and right on cue the morning announcement played. "Good morning, class!" Monokuma said, sitting on the chair while sipping his martini with that same grin on his face. I had this insatiable urge to climb through the screen and punch his face off, even though my arms were too thin and spindly to do any sort of real damage. "It is now 7 am!"

I couldn't even be bothered to sit through the rest of the announcement as I walked out of my dorm. Immediately, I was greeted with the sight of Hideki strolling down the hallway, as I noticed Azizah and Guadalupe walking toward the dining hall, in the direction opposite of the Ultimate Interrogator. I tried to sneak toward the dining hall with them, when suddenly I heard the all-too-familiar calling of my name. _Shit_. I felt a shiver down my spine as I dreaded turning around, seeing Hideki's smug, malaligned grin.

"Kanon," Hideki called out to me. "Where are you going?" He asked.

"Um…" I turned around to look at him, his towering, imposing figure, his eyes covered by lifeless, robotic sunglasses. The grin of corruptness upon his mug. "Just… to the dining hall? With everyone else…" I muttered, looking down at the ground as my resolve had been greatly minimized.

He smirked at me and lowered his sunglasses. "Look, I don't take you as the type to take the Orb or anything. I'm not really worried about you, so I'm just gonna leave you alone,"

I breathed a sigh of relief as Hideki walked away. It was nice that he never suspected me. It would mean that he I could steal the Orb, and he wouldn't notice-

Damn, I was doing it again.

Shaking my head to clear myself of the previous thoughts I was having, I walked toward the dining hall myself. I arrived to the usual scene of everybody in their groups, with everybody grouping up with their friends - Rai was sitting between Shiro and Aiko, going off about the weather again as Aiko leaned her head on the table, looking at him with enthralled eyes as Shiro was leaning back in their chair, with an unimpressed look upon his face. Toko and Daquan were talking together, seemingly now over Saeko's death. Tame, Kenji, and Ryo were sitting together as well as Yuki and Guadalupe, while Kaemon was off by himself at the end of the table. Asa was sitting next to Utamuro and Tomoe while shoving pastries into her mouth, while Sen was on the other side of the table, writing something down on his own. Masaki and Azizah were sitting next to each other and talking together, just like yesterday. While it irked me a bit, I noticed _something_ was off.

Two people were missing - Hideki and Amy-chan.

"Good morning, Kanon!" Azizah greeted me as I took a seat between her and Masaki.

"You sleep well last night?" Masaki asked me, his gentle gray eyes looking into my own. I felt a chill run down my spine as my heart skipped a beat.

"W-well, I guess I kinda did…" I whispered. "Well, you know, as well as one reasonably can under these stressful conditions,"

Masaki nodded. "In any case, where is Amy-chan at?" he asked.

Utamuro's eyes lit up. "Oh no…" his face suddenly went pale as he looked down at the ground. Given everything we had been through over the past week or so, his fear was absolutely justified. Considering what had happened to Lorenzo and Saeko.

Then, total silence filled the room. She was always up around this time, even factoring the _ridiculous_ amount of time she would need to get dressed and do her hair and makeup. It was quite incredible how punctual she was despite not only how ditzy she came off, but the sheer amount of time and preparation it would take to put on her usual attire was definitely not to be underestimated. To get that all done in the time it would usually take me to just get out of bed in the morning, now _that_ was impressive.

And the fact that she had not shown up yet was concerning.

Plus, where was Hideki in all this anyway? I remembered he was out patrolling the hallway, which made me more concerned the more I thought about it. Was he to blame for what was going on with Amy-chan? Oh dear, I just couldn't handle the thought-

Suddenly, the door to the dining hall burst open, and we all gasped as a horrifying sight unfolded before us.

Hideki was standing in the doorway, gripping Amy-chan tightly by her hair. She was wincing in pain and holding her head, and it looked like some makeup was dripping down from her eyes.

"Whoa!" Utamuro shouted, running up to the two of them. Hideki let go of Amy-chan as she fell to her knees. "What did she do to you?!" Utamuro shouted at him, while helping Amy-chan stand back up.

"She was getting too suspicious," Hideki replied. "I saw her looking around for the Orb of Desire,"

Masaki glared at him. "Look, what makes you think she was looking for the Orb of Desire?" He asked. "No really, what reason do we have to believe that you did this for any reason than just your own violent paranoia?"

"Yeah, this isn't professional police behavior at all!" I tacked on. "Very uncharacteristic of an Ultimate,"

Hideki sighed and took a seat next to Sen. "Look, if she had found the Orb, then things would have turned out really bad for us. It's something we can't risk,"

Amy-chan let out an agonized "Owwww…" as Utamuro guided her to a seat, her movement looking dizzy and staggered.

Everyone went silent again, though the atmosphere seemed hostile and heated rather than frightened this time. A few of us were glaring at Hideki as Amy-chan occasionally whimpered.

"Anyway, what did we have planned for today?" asked Hideki.

"Y'know, I'm not bothering with this," Kaemon said, getting out of his seat and walking away from the dining hall.

"Dear me, I… Really should be getting to baking now," Asa nervously muttered through a mouthful of cake, getting up and rushing out of the room herself.

"Hmm, seems she's suffering from a mild sugar rush," Sen noted, for once taking an eye off of his paper.

Shiro tilted their head at him. "Is that a real thing?" They asked him.

"Why, of course!" Sen replied, his eyes perking up. "Perhaps not in the cartoonishly doping fashion that you may be thinking of, but it can raise a person's brain activity to extensive levels,"

Shiro shrugged and laid back again, with everyone seeming to forget about the whole situation with Hideki and Amy-chan for some reason.

Within minutes, everybody had cleared the dining hall once more. With everyone else gone, as well as no plans or commitments coming up, I decided the best way to pass the time was to see what everybody else was up to. I definitely wasn't about to spend any time with Hideki, so I was going to see who I could find by walking around.

I exited the dining hall and began walking down the hallway. As I made my way through, I noticed Aiko holding up a candle, muttering something under her breath. Surprisingly, Rai wasn't anywhere near her for some reason.

Suddenly, Aiko turned to me and grinned. "Oh, hello there Kanon~" she greeted me, the flame on her candle flickering.

"Oh, hey-" I greeted her back. Her blood-red eyes and creepy, wide grin were as unsettling as always, sending chills down my spine as she spoke in her typical high-pitched, almost bewitching voice.

Aiko walked toward me and then looked me up and down, licking her lips. "Kanon, would you like to perform a ritual with me?" She asked, her wide grin turning into a warm smile. I couldn't quite explain what it was, but somehow, in that moment, I felt… soothed. For whatever reason, I was starting to feel safe around Aiko. In that moment, her presence was warm and comfortable, even though those were words I would never use to describe her otherwise.

"Well, I'd love to!" I replied, now somehow eager to go along with whatever creepy thing she wanted to do.

"Excellent!" Aiko exclaimed, taking my hand. Her hand was covered in a soft black glove, but I could feel that she had a tight grip on me. Luckily, I had no plans to escape her clutches. Although, if I did, it would be quite unfortunate for me.

She and I walked out to the beach, where she then let go of my hand after we got decently far between the ocean and the train. She picked up a stick off the ground and then drew a circle in the sand, drawing various lines and indistinguishable patterns and designs inside. It was probably just another magic circle like the one she had drawn yesterday.

"What is this?" I asked her. "It's the first time I've taken part in a ritual such as this. What's the point of it?"

Aiko smiled as she began to place candles at the edges of the circle, notably placing them at the points where the lines would cross. Somehow, the flames on all the candles turned from an orange-red to a violet color. After she had finished setting all the candles, she sat down across from me in the circle.

"Okay, now just sit there, and close your eyes," Aiko told me. I went along with it, closing my eyes. I could hear nothing but the crashing of the waves and the faint breeze, with the crisp beach air upon my skin. It felt like I was floating, like my body was in another dimension.

"You're in another world now," she said to me, her voice quiet, calm, reassuring. She took both my hands as I felt a surge of warmth through both my wrists. For once, I felt.. At peace. I had no idea what Aiko was doing, but whatever it was, it was working.

"Now, just concentrate on nothing. Clear your mind. This is a good test for stress relief and relaxation," She whispered, her voice tickling my ears. "And whatever you do, don't open your eyes,"

I then heard Aiko indistinctly mutter some phrases in a language I could not understand. It all sounded so alien to me, like sounds no normal human could ever make.

After the most soothing few minutes of my life, I heard Aiko's soft voice echoing in my head again.

"Open your eyes," she commanded me. I opened my eyes to see that all the candles had been snuffed out, probably from the cool beach wind. Aiko smiled at me and stood up, holding her hand down as if to instruct me to take it. I stood up and took her hand, making sure to snap some pictures of the circle before she kicked the lines in the sand out, putting all her candles away in the process. "This was my meditation ritual, the one I usually show to people first getting into my… spirituality," She told me with a smile on her face. I didn't quite know why she paused before finishing her sentence, but regardless, I had a good experience with it.

The two of us walked back up to the train, and we sat down at a table in the scenic room.

"So how was that?" Aiko asked me, looking deep into my eyes.

"It was… lovely, in all honesty," I replied with a nod and a confident smile. "It felt… really nice. Better than I was anticipating,"

Aiko nodded and gave a sweet giggle. "Well, I'm glad to hear, dearie," Aiko said to me, resting her head upon her hands. "How are you feeling now? Calm?"

I nodded. "Absolutely!" I replied. "Hey, would you mind if I did an editorial on your, uh, spirituality?" I asked her. "It obviously can't be too big yet, but it's fascinating to me,"

She nodded, her whole face lighting up. "Why, of course!" She said. "But, before we get to that, I have questions for you too," she told me, clearing her throat. "First of all, how have you been? Every time I run into you, you appear to be downtrodden, sullen, jaded. You give off rather depressing vibes, and I must ask you. What is bothering you?"

"So you could see it after all?" I asked, giving a bit of a laugh. "I've tried not to look too upset, but I guess I'm not the best at hiding my emotions… Well, in all honesty, sometimes I feel like… well, you know. With all the death and all, I feel like I helped get Saeko killed… and Hideki being so controlling doesn't help things. Plus, it doesn't help matters that well… I don't feel like I'm… enough, I guess. I can take pictures and write stories, but I still need to… do more. I just sort of fade into the background. Like I don't really matter…" I trailed off. I had no idea why more words came out of me than I had previously intended, but I knew that my words would not fall upon deaf ears.

Aiko nodded. "I could sense it in you quite easily. Anyway… About all that. That's absolute nonsense! You are perhaps the most intellectual person here! Why, I don't think we would even be _alive_ without you!"

"O-oh-"

"And don't worry about all that, about not standing out! We are all unique in our own ways! None of us here is without talent, that's what we're all here for! And even beyond that, it is quite ridiculous that people have this idea that you need to have talent to matter," She told me. "You absolutely matter. You're beyond worth it! Kanon Amari, you are a precious gem and one of the most important people I have ever met!" She then took my hands and looked straight into my eyes. "Don't you ever sell yourself short. Because I guarantee you, people in your life value you more than you could ever comprehend!"

"Wow…" Her reassuring smile returned to her face as I smiled back at her. She had struck a nerve with me in a way that only Masaki had before, and even then, that was mostly due to my attraction toward him. My only thoughts on Aiko up until now had been completely negative, but as it turned out… I was wrong about her. She made me feel _good_ about myself!

Afterward, the two of us parted ways as she left, probably to hang out with Rai or Shiro. In the meantime, I set out to see who else was around to hang out with.

I walked into the scenic room, where I saw Amy-chan sitting at the table, applying heavy amounts of foundation and blush to her bruised face and looking into a rectangular makeup mirror. I could see black-gray streaks of mascara running down her cheeks, presumably from crying. Considering what likely happened with that dickhead Hideki, I couldn't blame the poor girl.

"O-oh, _ohayo_ Kanon-chan..." Amy-chan said to me, uncharacteristically melancholy in her tone. The hairs in her wig had been crumpled and torn; it didn't look like it would ever see any usage again. It broke my heart seeing the girl so damaged and broken...

"Hey, Amy-chan," I greeted her, sitting down across from her. "You holding up okay?" I asked her. I didn't know why I was asking her that question; it was fairly clear that she absolutely was not.

Amy-chan shook her head and gave a subtle " _iie_ " as she turned away, hiding the bruised side of her face from me.

I tapped my fingers on the table for a few seconds as I tried to think of some way to break the tension. "Uh... How cosplays have you done?" I asked her.

She gave a soft sigh and looked down, staying silent for a few seconds. "I lost count in 2009," she replied. Somehow, this sentence caught me off-guard. It didn't feel as overly-saccharine or ditzy or fake-Japanese. It felt... genuine.

"Wow, you... have sure done a lot?" I replied, giving a nervous chuckle. "Uh... how many albums have you recorded?" I asked. I admittedly wasn't too into the J-Pop scene, so I wouldn't even know any of her album names off the top of my head.

She scowled and shook her head again. "I haven't been counting since 2009,"

Her voice felt a lot softer and weaker than usual. This wasn't the obnoxious, boisterous Amy-chan I had been used to.

"Well uh..." I began tugging at my sleeve as the silence began to deafen the room. I could feel my heart pounding as I tried to think of something to add to the conversation, but _nothing_ was coming to my head! "How much Japanese do you know?"

She shook her head again and turned away. "I stopped learning more Japanese in 2009,"

Dear god, what the _fuck_ happened in 2009?!

"Okay, what happened that year?" I asked her. "You're... a completely different person than I thought you were,"

She rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Nothing, that was just when I moved to Japan and switched labels, and... they gave me a new persona, telling me to play up the cutesy, dumb fake Japanese girl thing as much as I could,"

Wait... what?

"Is that-"

"Yes!" She replied, slamming her hands on the table. I sat there in silence as Amy-chan looked down. "Sorry, I'm really on-edge right now..." she whispered. "It's hard for me to keep up my ditzy persona when encounters like the one with Hideki happened," she said. "I had to live under a strict contract. I wasn't allowed to break character, I wasn't allowed to date because the boys had to believe I was single and available, for my image. And if I acted out of line..." she shook her head again as a single tear fell from her left eye, which she promptly wiped away with a tissue before covering up that spot with some foundation. "Sorry Kanon, I didn't mean to run my mouth there,"

I shook my head at her. "It's okay," I replied. "You needed to get that off your chest," I then pulled my journal out of my bag. "May I ask what sort of things went down?"

Amy-chan then gasped and looked away again. "I can't... Not if you're going to publish that,"

I shrugged and put the journal back into my bag. If she couldn't even inform me of what happened, then it must have been real bad. Perhaps it had something to do with her contract?

"I'm sorry, Amy," I whispered, clasping my hands. "I totally took you for someone completely different, I was convinced you were a total idiot butchering Japanese at every opportunity," I informed her. "Would have never guessed it was all an act,"

Amy-chan nodded and smiled at me, taking a deep breath. "Thank you Kanon, I really needed somebody to listen to me while Utamuro was out,"

I smiled back. "Of course! I feel like I've gotten to know a whole new side of you," I told her. "You and Utamuro seem close, are you two like...?"

She raised an eyebrow and giggled. "He's a cutie. Right now he's in his room, making a new outfit for me! The guy works so hard..."

Well, this was cute.

"Anyway, I'll be back. We should hang out more!" Amy-chan told me as she stood up, reverting to her cutesy self. " _Arigato_ Kanon-chan, and _sayonara_!"

I walked away from the scenic room and walked toward the hallway, where I found Azizah working next to a power box attached to the wall, apparently messing with some wires using some tools from her belt. She turned to me as I approached, and flashed a quick smile in my direction.

"Good afternoon, Kanon! What are you up to right now?" Azizah asked me, taking a second to wipe her glasses off. Seeing her so cheery made it difficult to think about what Kaemon had done just the day before.

"Good afternoon to you too!" I greeted her. I didn't want to distract her too much; it looked like she was working hard on whatever it was she was doing.

She turned back to the power box and fiddled with the wires a bit for a few seconds, and then suddenly the light all around got brighter; I could see everything more clearly. I didn't even realize how dim the lights had gotten!

"Monokuma really doesn't take good care of this place," Azizah said with a sigh, shrugging her shoulders. "Oh well, it's not a hard fix for me," she said as she closed the door to the power box. "You look very surprised, Kanon. Why's that?"

"Just, you work really fast and I didn't see how dark it really was in here," I replied. "I'm kind of impressed!"

Azizah shrugged again. "Ah, you do not need to flatter me so much. This is quite an easy fix for me!"

Well, in her attempt to sound humble she ended up boasting even more. Not that I could hold it against her though.

"You're a really hard worker, aren't you?" I asked her. "You built that generator and you also make time for your religion, does it ever get tiring?"

Azizah shrugged again. "Not really. Yeah, it means I don't get to work on things as long as I'd particularly like to, but for my religion, I'll gladly make any sacrifices I need! Well... as many as I can afford to make, that is..."

I remembered what Kaemon revealed about her wearing her hijab in public, and suddenly frowned. I wanted to ask about that particular incident, but I also didn't want to open any old wounds.

"I'm supposed to wear my hijab, but I'm kind of scared to... People seem to be afraid of me when I wear it, and people like Kaemon really don't help. I feel like I'm letting go of an important part of me..." She trailed off. Huh, she got personal real quick.

"Well, it's just the rest of us here, why don't you begin wearing it now? I don't think anyone will judge you, except Kaemon," I said to her, trying my best to sound motivational.

Azizah shook her head and wiped a tear from her eye. "I worry about the looks I'll get, or what Kaemon will say... I really don't want to have to deal with all that again,"

I looked down and sighed. She knew more than any of us how important it was that she wear it, but then again, I wasn't one to tell her how it would affect the way anybody else looked at her. It was obvious Kaemon would be a dick about it, but there was no way to tell how anybody else would handle it. I would definitely defend her if anyone gave her shit, but how would the others go about it? It was a frustrating dilemma to say the least.

"Well Azizah, just know that no matter what, it's okay. You don't have to do anything for anybody except yourself. It shouldn't be anybody's decision how you go about your religion," I told her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Azizah smiled back at me and closed her eyes. "I appreciate that very much, dear Kanon. I apologize if I am being difficult at the moment,"

Aw, now she was apologizing to me for things that weren't her fault? Poor girl.

"Anyway," She said, picking her toolbox off of the ground. "I've got some other things that need fixing right now. We'll talk later?" She asked.

"For sure!" I replied with a smile.

Just as Azizah walked off, Tame and Kenji entered through the door, both looking to be in a rush of some sort.

"Kanon! Come quick!" Tame said to me, grabbing onto my right hand.

"Wait, what is it?!" I asked.

"It's important," Kenji replied. "Furthermore... it's a secret. You can't let Hideki find out,"


End file.
